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If the waste from septic tanks were to be conveyed to the City of Beaumont WWTP,
about 30 percent of the current input of nitrate from human waste to groundwater
would be removed.
4.2 Comparison with Federal and State Drinking Water
Standards
The California Department of Health Services (CDPH) maintains an active water quality
database of all public and private drinking water wells throughout the state. This database,
available at CDPH’s website, was assessed for the 2012-2016 reporting period for 23
domestic production wells in the Beaumont Basin. The objective of this analysis was to
determine whether any of these potable wells had exceeded the Primary or Secondary
Federal and State standards or the notification levels set by the state. Federal 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 1,464 water quality results were extracted from the CDPH database for the 23
production wells in the Beaumont Basin. Results were obtained for 176 analytes sampled
between 2012 and 2016. 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 (100 ug/day) was exceeded
once at SMWC Well No. 4 during the reporting period.
Additional water quality information from 2012 through 2016 was obtained from Dudek
Engineering as part of the Maximum Benefit Monitoring Program. A total of 1,356 water
quality results were analyzed to determine if the water quality at non-domestic wells exceeded
drinking water standards. Drinking standards were exceeded for a limited number of
constituents as follows:
Nitrate-N – Nine of the 17 monitoring wells sampled for Nitrate-N exceeded the federal
and state primary MCL of 10 mg/L – Total of 98 readings. All of these wells are located
outside the Beaumont Basin.
pH – Nine of the 16 monitoring wells sampled for pH exceeded the secondary federal
MCL of 8.5 – Total of 77 readings. One of these wells is located in the Beaumont
Basin.
Total Dissolved Solids – Nine of the 16 monitoring wells exceeded the federal and
state secondary MCL of 500 mg/L – Total of 75 readings. These wells are located
outside the Beaumont Basin.
Beaumont Basin Watermaster 2016 Annual Report – DRAFT – August 2017 4-7
