Delivering Safe, Clean Water Remains Top Priority

June 26, 2024
by Tarrah Henrie, Director of Water Quality

Testing water in the labAt Cal Water, providing safe, clean, and reliable tap water ​is our top priority. This requires a proactive commitment to infrastructure investment, as well as continuous water quality treatment and testing.

This month, we released our annual, system-specific water quality reports, which provide transparency and insights about the work we do every day in the lab and in the field for our customers and communities. Officially known as Consumer Confidence Reports, they provide detailed information on the water supply, sustainability, testing, standards, and more for the previous year. The reports confirm that Cal Water met all primary and secondary, federal and state water quality standards set for drinking water in 2023 across all of our districts.

Our water quality experts conduct more than 500,000 tests every year for more than 300 contaminants in our state-certified, state-of-the-art labs. This relentless commitment leads to an average of more than 1,000 tests per day. In addition, Cal Water crews are in our communities every day, maintaining and replacing critical infrastructure such as water pipelines and treatment systems.

Worth noting this year are new regulations from both the California State Water Resources Control Board and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, both of which include new maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for chromium-6, as well as certain polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Cal Water is committed to compliance with these regulations. We were already testing and treating for chromium-6 prior to the new MCL. In fact, we became one of the first water utilities in America to use advanced treatment technology for this specific contaminant, which has since become a model for other cities and utilities in their treatment of chromium-6.

We have also been monitoring, testing, and treating for certain PFAS. Our new treatment facility in Montebello was the first in the area to be constructed specifically to treat for these compounds in the water. We also have installed PFAS treatment plants in Oroville, Visalia, and Marysville.

Cal Water continuously modernizes and ​upgrades our water system to provide safe, clean, reliable drinking water for our customers, and our annual water quality reports are made available to provide customers insight about the processes. Our reports are available for viewing on the Water Quality Reports page. Copies are also available by contacting local Cal Water offices.