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Section 4
Water Quality Conditions
standards are set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) while state
standards in California are set by CDPH. Primary standards at the federal and state level are
enforceable criteria that have been established to protect the public against consumption of
drinking water contaminants that present a risk to human health. Secondary standards are not
enforceable standards; they have been established for aesthetic qualities of water, such as
taste, color, and other. Contaminants with a secondary MCL are not considered to present a
risk to human health at the established maximum level. Notification levels (NL) are not
enforceable standards; however, they require that municipal water suppliers notify the public if
the NL for a chemical has been exceeded.
A total of 2,712 water quality results were extracted from the CDPH database for the 33
production wells in the Beaumont Basin. Results were obtained for 114 analytes sampled
between 2009 and 2013. The results of the analysis indicate that not a single production well
exceeds either the primary or secondary federal and state standards during the reporting
period. However, the California Notification Limit for Vanadium was exceeded once at SMWC
Well No. 4 during the reporting period.
Additional water quality information from 2008 through 2011 was obtained from WEI as part of
the Maximum Benefit Monitoring Program. A total of 710 water quality results were analyzed
to determine if the water quality at the monitoring wells exceeded drinking water standards.
Drinking standards were exceeded for a limited number of constituents as follows:
Nitrate-N – Three of the 17 monitoring wells sampled for Nitrate-N exceeded this
federal and state primary MCL of 10 mg/L – Total of 46 readings. All of these wells are
located outside the Beaumont Basin.
pH – Two of the 16 monitoring wells sampled for pH exceeded this secondary federal
MCL of 8.5 – Total of 39 readings. One of these wells is located in the Beaumont
Basin.
Total Dissolved Solids – Two of the 16 monitoring wells exceeded this federal and
state secondary MCL of 500 mg/L – Total of 39 readings. Both wells located outside
the Beaumont Basin.
Turbidity – None of the eight monitoring wells sampled for turbidity exceeded this
secondary California MCL of 5 NTU – Total of nine readings.
Appendix D contains summary statistics of the analytical results for the 2009-2013 period for
all chemicals that have a federal or state drinking water standard whether maximum
contaminant levels were exceeded.
4.2.1 Trace Metals
As indicated earlier, not a single production well exceeds either the primary or secondary
federal and state standards during the reporting period. This represents a significant
improvement over previous reporting periods when several wells exceeded the MCL for trace
metals. Trace metals are briefly discussed here and compared to previous reporting periods.
Beaumont Basin Watermaster 2013 Annual Report – DRAFT August 2014 4-6
