Cal. Health & Safety Code § 116277
Pure and Safe Drinking Water
Redline — January 1, 2017 → current.View current text →
Current — January 1, 2025
As of January 1, 2017
(a) (1) A community water system that serves a schoolsite of a local educational agency with a building constructed before January 1, 2010, on that schoolsite shall test for lead in the potable water system of the schoolsite on or before July 1, 2019.
(2) The community water system shall report its findings to the schoolsite within 10 business days after the community water system receives the results from the testing laboratory or within two business days if it is found that the schoolsite’s lead level exceeds 15 parts per billion.
(3) If the lead level exceeds 15 parts per billion, the community water system shall also test a water sample from the point in which the schoolsite connects to the community water system’s supply network to determine the lead level of the water entering the schoolsite from the community water system’s water supply network.
(b) (1) A local educational agency shall allow the community water system access to each of the local educational agency’s schoolsites that are subject to subdivision (a) to conduct testing.
(2) If the lead level exceeds 15 parts per billion, the local educational agency shall notify the parents and guardians of the pupils who attend the schoolsite or preschool where the elevated lead levels are found.
(c) (1) If lead levels exceed 15 parts per billion, the local educational agency shall take immediate steps to make inoperable and shut down from use all fountains and faucets where the excess lead levels may exist. Additional testing may be required to determine if all or just some of the school’s fountains and faucets are required to be shut down.
(2) Each local educational agency shall work with the schoolsites within its service area to ensure that a potable source of drinking water is provided for students at each schoolsite where fountains or faucets have been shut down due to elevated lead levels. Providing a potable source of drinking water may include, but is not limited to, replacing any pipes or fixtures that are contributing to the elevated lead levels, providing onsite water filtration, or providing bottled water as a short-term remedy.
(d) Each community water system, in cooperation with the appropriate corresponding local educational agency, shall prepare a sampling plan for each schoolsite where lead sampling is required under subdivision (a). The community water system and the local educational agency may request assistance from the state board or any local health agency responsible for regulating community water systems in developing the plan.
(e) This section shall not apply to a schoolsite that is subject to any of the following:
(1) The schoolsite was constructed or modernized after January 1, 2010.
(2) The local educational agency of the schoolsite is currently permitted as a public water system and is currently required to test for lead in the potable water system.
(3) The local educational agency completed lead testing of the potable water system after January 1, 2009, and posts information about the lead testing on the local educational agency’s public Internet Web site, including, at a minimum, identifying any schoolsite where the level of lead in drinking water exceeds 15 parts per billion.
(4) The local educational agency has requested testing from its community water system consistent with the requirements of this section.
(f) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school located in a public facility.
(2) “Potable water system” means water fountains and faucets used for drinking or preparing food.
(g) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2019, and, as of January 1, 2020, is repealed.
(a) (1) When making outreach attempts to elementary schools and childcare facilities for the purposes of offering lead sampling in drinking water, pursuant to Sections 141.90(i) and 141.92 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, a community water system shall do both of the following:
(A) Compile all of the following information:
(i) The number and names of schools and childcare facilities served by the water system.
(ii) The number and names of schools and childcare facilities sampled in the previous year.
(iii) The number and names of elementary schools and childcare facilities that declined sampling.
(iv) The number and names of elementary schools and childcare facilities that did not respond to outreach attempts for sampling.
(v) Information that pertains to outreach attempts for sampling that were declined or not responded to by an elementary school or childcare facility.
(vi) Sampling results from sampled schools and childcare facilities.
(B) Provide elementary schools and childcare facilities that decline lead testing with an opportunity to provide information about their reasons for declining by allowing them to select from a list that includes all of the following options:
(i) All drinking and food preparation water outlets were tested for lead within the last five years under an independent program in which the elementary school or childcare facility participated.
(ii) The elementary school or childcare facility already maintains a routine water quality testing program, inclusive of lead sampling in drinking water.
(iii) The elementary school or childcare facility is participating in another government-funded water quality program that is inclusive of lead sampling in drinking water.
(iv) The elementary school or childcare facility has opted to coordinate testing for lead in drinking water with a third-party vendor for operational reasons.
(v) The elementary school or childcare facility was constructed after January 1, 2010.
(vi) The elementary school or childcare facility was modernized after January 1, 2010, and the elementary school or childcare facility was fully replumbed as part of the modernization.
(vii) All drinking and food preparation water outlets were installed after January 1, 2010, and all of those outlets are connected to plumbing that was installed or replaced after January 1, 2010.
(viii) The elementary school or childcare facility uses bottled water, water that is filtered with a point-of-use water filtration device certified to meet NSF/ANSI standards for lead and particulate reduction, or both, for all drinking water and food preparation purposes.
(ix) The elementary school or childcare facility is currently undergoing major modernization or construction.
(x) Logistical barriers such as timing, access, or personnel coordination prevent the elementary school or childcare facility from participating in the community water system’s offer to test.
(2) (A) If a community water system has received a written waiver from the state board exempting it from lead sampling requirements pursuant to Section 141.92 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the community water system shall be exempt from the requirements under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) for the subset of schools or childcare facilities to which the waiver applies.
(B) The state board may issue a statewide written waiver exempting more than one community water system from lead sampling requirements pursuant to Section 141.92 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, for community water systems subject to a statewide sampling law or program, through the policy handbook adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).
(b) (1) Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), a community water system shall submit all of the information that it compiles or that is provided to it pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) to the state board pursuant to a process specified by the state board.
(2) The state board may add additional reasons for declining lead testing to the list specified in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(3) The state board may implement this subdivision through the adoption of a policy handbook. The policy handbook shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(c) On or before June 30, 2028, the state board shall make all of the information submitted to it pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) publicly available in a searchable format on its internet website. In order to aid members of the public in understanding this information, the state board shall do all of the following:
(1) To the extent possible, present sampling results on its internet website as a specific value and not in a format that uses the mathematical symbol meaning less than.
(2) Bold or otherwise highlight on its internet website sampling results that are above five parts per billion.
(3) Indicate whether a test result represents an exceedance of the action level for lead in drinking water under the federal Lead and Copper Rule.
(4) Provide information on its internet website that explains the health harms posed by lead in drinking water and that even low blood lead levels can result in lasting cognitive impairment in children.
(d) On or before December 31, 2028, a community water system shall include both of the following in its annual consumer confidence report prepared pursuant to Article 20 (commencing with Section 64480) Chapter 15 of Division 4 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations:
(1) A written statement that information pertaining to lead testing in schools and childcare facilities, including the names of schools and childcare facilities that received testing from community water systems, is available on the state board’s internet website.
(2) A direct link to the state board’s internet website, developed pursuant to subdivision (c).
(e) This section shall not be construed as altering the compliance dates specified in Sections 141.90(i) and 141.92 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(f) For purposes of this section, “childcare facility,” “elementary school,” and “school” have the same meanings as those terms are defined in Section 141.2 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.