WHAT ARE PUBLIC HEALTH GOALS?

Public Health Goals (PHGs) became a reality in California when SB1307 (Calderon/Sher) was signed into law in 1996. SB 1307 brought California into compliance with the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996. SB 1307 requires the state to develop a Public Health Goal for every primary drinking water standard developed by the state. A Public Health Goal is the level at which a contaminant will cause no known risk to human health. The PHG is a risk assessment based strictly on human health considerations. This number is then forwarded to the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) for use in developing the primary standard. CDHS is required to also take treatment technologies and cost of compliance into account when setting the primary standard.

The State office designated to develop the PHGs is CalEPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). For more information on the current status of PHG development, read the State of California Activities.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA ACTIVITIES:

In accordance with SB1307 (Calderon/Sher), the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is required to adopt a PHG for every California primary drinking water standard. OEHHA is progressively adopting PHGs for each existing drinking water standard. For a current list of PHGs adopted to date, visit the OEHHA PHG Web site. Once PHGs for the existing standards has been completed, OEHHA will adopt PHGs for proposed standards only.

ACWA's ACTIVITIES:

Historically

ACWA has been involved with PHGs since the drafting of SB1307. ACWA lobbied successfully to have the PHGs changed from Recommended Public Health Goals (RPHGs), which would have been enforceable standards, to Public Health Goals, which are non-enforceable standards.

ACWA has an active Public Health Goals work group. This work group is part of the Water Quality Committee's Safe Drinking Water Subcommittee. For each set of PHGs developed, ACWA has attended the public workshops and commented vigorously. ACWA plans to stay involved with each set of PHGs developed.

For more more detailed information on PHGs, e-mail ACWA's Regulatory Affairs Department.