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2.0 California Drinking Water Regulatory Process <br />California Health and Safety Code Section 116365 requires the State to develop a PHG <br />for every contaminant with a primary drinking water standard or for any contaminant the <br />State is proposing to regulate with a primary drinking water standard. A PHG is the <br />level of a contaminant in drinking water that poses no significant health risk if consumed <br />for a lifetime. The process of establishing a PHG is a risk assessment based strictly on <br />human health considerations. PHGs are recommended targets and are not required to <br />be met by any public water system. <br />The State office designated to develop PHGs is the California Environmental Protection <br />Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). The PHG is <br />then forwarded to the State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water <br />(DDW) for use in revising or developing a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in <br />drinking water. The MCL is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking <br />water. California MCLs cannot be less stringent than federal MCLs and must be as <br />close as is technically and economically feasible to the PHGs. DDW is required to take <br />treatment technologies and cost of compliance into account when setting an MCL. <br />Each MCL is reviewed at least once every five years. <br />Total chromium and two radiological contaminants (gross alpha particle and gross beta <br />particle) have MCLs but do not yet have designated PHGs. For these contaminants, <br />the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), the federal U.S. Environmental <br />Protection Agency (USEPA) equivalent of PHGs, is used in the 2019 PHGs Report. <br />N-nitrosodimethylamine <br />(NDMA) has a <br />PHG of 3 nanograms per liter, <br />but is not <br />regulated in drinking <br />water with <br />a primary drinking water <br />standard. <br />Bromodichloromethane, <br />bromoform, and <br />dichloroacetic acid are three <br />disinfection <br />byproducts that have federal MCI -Gs of 0 but are not individually regulated with primary <br />drinking water standards. According to the ACWA guidance and instructions from <br />City of Santa Ana 2 2019 PHGs Report <br />75C-5 <br />