Page 114 - Beaumont Basin Watermaster

Section 4
Water Quality Conditions

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 2014-2018 reporting period for 20
domestic production wells in the Beaumont Basin. The objective of this analysis was to
determine whether any of these potable wells 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 others. 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 3,774 water quality results were extracted from the CDPH database for all production
wells in the Beaumont Basin. Results were obtained for 31 minerals and inorganic chemicals
and over 140 organic compounds sampled between 2014 and 2018. The results of the
analysis indicate that not a single well exceeded the primary Federal or State MCL for any of
the analytes tested; however, one well (BCVWD No. 3 – August 2016) exceeded the
secondary MCL for Iron during the reporting period. In addition, the California Notification
Limit for Vanadium (100 ug/day) was exceeded once at SMWC Well No. 4 during the reporting
period.

Appendix F contains summary statistics of the analytical results for the 2014-2018 period for
all chemicals that have a federal or state drinking water standard as reported in the CDPH
website. The Final report will also include water quality information from the Maximum Benefit
Monitoring Program database.

4.2.1 Nitrate and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

A total of 221 samples were collected and analyzed for Nitrate; 34 of these samples were also
analyzed for TDS. The current primary MCL for Nitrate is 45 ppm (mg/L) as NO3; the
secondary MCL for TDS is 500 mg/L. The table below presents a summary of Nitrate and
TDS concentration, including the number of samples taken, average and maximum
concentrations recorded, for all 20 domestic wells in the Beaumont Basin. This table indicates
that none of the domestic wells in the Beaumont Basin are near the MCL or the notification
level of 80 percent MCL, 36 mg/L for Nitrate and 400 mg/L for TDS. Highest concentrations
during the reporting period were recorded at BCVWD Well No. 16 with 33.0 mg/L of Nitrates
and 330 mg/L of dissolved salts.

Beaumont Basin Watermaster 2018 Annual Report – DRAFT - February 2019 4-8