California Drinking Water Needs Assessment
Needs Assessment Core Components:
In 2019, to advance the goals of the Human Right to Water “HR2W”, California passed Senate Bill 200, which enabled the State Water Board to establish the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Program. Foremost among the tools created for SAFER is the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The Fund provides up to $130 million per year through 2030 to enable the State Water Board to develop and implement sustainable solutions for underperforming drinking water systems. The annual Fund Expenditure Plan prioritizes projects for funding, documents past and planned expenditures, and is “based on data and analysis drawn from the drinking water Needs Assessment.”
For more information on SAFER, visit the Safe and Affordable Fund for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) website.
Preliminary 2023 Needs Assessment Results
The State Water Board is proposing enhancements to the 2023 Needs Assessment. These changes are intended to improve the accuracy of the Needs Assessment and accommodate for data availability. These changes are summarized in the resources below. Public feedback on the proposed changes is due by February 24, 2023.
- February 3, 2023 Public Webinar Workshop
- Register Here
- Webinar Recording (coming soon)
- Presentation
- White Paper
- Preliminary Risk Assessment Results for Public Water Systems
- Preliminary Risk Assessment Results for State Small Water Systems & Domestic Wells Map
- Preliminary Affordability Assessment Results Spreadsheet
- Public Feedback, due by Feb 24, 2023: mail to DDW-SAFER-NAU@Waterboards.ca.gov
- Request Water System Data Change
2022 Needs Assessment
2022 Risk Assessment for Public Water Systems
2022 Risk Assessment for State Small Water Systems and Domestic Wells
2022 Drought Infrastructure Cost Assessment Results
2022 Affordability Assessment Results
Risk Assessment
- Public Water Systems Data Spreadsheet
- Risk Assessment for Public Water Systems Results Map
- State Small Water System and Domestic Well Risk Assessment Map
- Aquifer Risk Map
Cost Assessment
Affordability Assessment
Archives
2021 Drinking Water Needs Assessment Results
- Full Final Report
- Risk Assessment for State Small Water Systems and Domestic Well Results and Methodology
- Cost Assessment Results and Methodology
- Attachment C1: Geographic Information System and Database Methodologies
- Attachment C2: Kern County Case Study
- Attachment C3: Treatment Cost Methodology Details
- Attachment C4: Sustainability and Resiliency Assessment
- Attachment C5: Additional Cost Assessment Results and Regionalization Analysis
- Attachment D1: Supplemental Gap Analyses for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SADWF)
- Affordability Assessment Results and Methodology
- 2021 Needs Assessment Press Release: 04.09.2021
- 2021 Needs Assessment FAQs
- 04.13.2021 Presentation
- 04.13.2021 Webinar Recording
Needs Assessment Methodology Development
The State Water Board has been hosting public webinar workshops to provide opportunities for stakeholders to learn about and contribute to the development of the Needs Assessment methodologies. These methodologies will be refined over time, particularly as new information becomes available or as new regulatory changes occur.
Identifying public water systems (starting with 3,300 or less service connections) and K-12 schools that are at-risk of failing to provide adequate safe drinking water. The State Water Board will be coordinating with Indian Health Services and U.S. EPA to develop and conduct a Risk Assessment for tribal water systems in California.
- February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
- December 14, 2020: Risk Assessment 2.0 Webinar 4: Thresholds, Scores and Weights
- October 13, 2020: Risk Assessment 2.0 Webinar 3: Evaluation and Recommendation of Risk Indicators
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper and Appendices: D1, D2, D3, D4
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 10-13
- July 22, 2020: Risk Assessment 2.0 Webinar 2: Identifying Potential Risk Indicators
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- Agenda
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 7-22
- April 17, 2020: Risk Assessment 2.0 Webinar 1: Methods for Determining “At-Risk” Public Water Systems, Domestic Wells, and State Small Water Systems
- July 11, 2019
- Agenda
- Webcast Recording
- Presentation PDFs:
- State Water Board Introduction
- State Water Board Financial Pilot Study
- Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)
- California Rural Water Association (CRWA)
- University of California, Davis
- Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
- Pacific Institute Presentation
- University of North Carolina, Environmental Finance Center
- University of California, Los Angeles-Luskin Center for Innovation
Identifying state small water systems and regions where domestic wells are at-risk of failing to provide adequate safe drinking water.
- February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
- November 4, 2020: SAFER Aquifer Risk Map Board Presentation
- October 9, 2020: SAFER Aquifer Risk Map: At-Risk Domestic Wells and State Small Systems Public Webinar
- Public Notice: English | Spanish
- Presentation
- July 22, 2020: SAFER Webinar Series 2: At Risk Public Water Systems (PM session for Domestic Wells & State Smalls)
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- Agenda
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 7-22
- April 17, 2020: Methods for Determining “At-Risk” Public Water Systems, Domestic Wells, and State Small Water Systems
- January 18, 2019: Domestic Wells Workshop
- Agenda
- Abstracts
- Webcast Recording
- Presentation PDFs:
- State Board Introduction, J. Borkovich and D. Polhemus
- USGS GAMA Program, M. Fram
- State Board GAMA Program, D. Bellan
- Legacy Well Construction, R.M. Gailey
- CV-SALTS Technical Approaches, V. Kretsinger
- Modeling Nitrate in Central Valley, K. Ransom
- Domestic Well Data in the Central Valley, R. Pauloo
- Drinking Water Vulnerability Screening Tool, C. Pace
- Tulare Lake Basin GIS Collaborative, M. Hickey
Determining the costs related to the implementation of interim and longer-term solutions for systems on the Human Right to Water list and At-Risk systems.
- August 4, 2022: Proposed Changes for the Cost Assessment
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
- February 26, 2021: SAFER: Cost Assessment Model Preliminary Results and Gap Analysis Webinar
- November 20, 2020: Cost Estimate: In-Depth Cost Methodology Discussion Webinar
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording
- August 28, 2020: Cost Estimate: Overview of Approach and Update
- May 10, 2019: Cost Analysis Workshop
- Public Notice
- Agenda
- Webcast Recording
- Presentation PDFs:
Identifying community water systems that serve disadvantaged communities that must charge their customers’ fees that exceed the affordability threshold established by the State Water Board in order to provide adequate safe drinking water.
- November 1, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER Affordability Workshop 3
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording (coming soon)
- September 20, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER Affordability Workshop 2
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording (coming soon)
- August 8, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER: Affordability Workshop 1
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- Presentation
- February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
- Public Notices: English | Spanish
- White Paper
- Presentation
- Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
- 9/11/2020: Advisory Group Webinar Discussion of Affordability
The Pilot California Small Water Systems Rates Dashboard is an online tool, prepared in collaboration with University of North Carolina’s Environmental Finance Center, that allows users to compare or benchmark residential rates, financial, and system performance data of community water systems serving between 500 and 3,300 connections.
- October 30, 2020: SAFER Tool Launch CA Small Water System Rates Dashboard
The original scope of the Needs Assessment was developed prior to passage of SB 200 and was originally designed to be conducted as a one-time study. Three State Water Board workshops hosted in early 2019 informed the original scope of the Needs Assessment to be developed through a contract with UCLA. After the passage of SB 200 and the establishment of the State Water Board’s Needs Analysis Unit the scope of the Needs Assessment pivoted to more closely align with the goals of the Human Right to Water and SB 200. The Needs Assessment is now required to be conducted annually and is used to inform the Fund Expenditure Plan for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund.
Subscribe to our SAFER Drinking Water email list to receive notifications and the latest updates.
Explore the Dashboard
News & Upcoming Events
- Public Webinar on Proposed Changes to the 2023 Needs Assessment
Date: Friday, February 3, 2023
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Register Here- White Paper
- Public Feedback, due by Feb 24, 2023: mail to DDW-SAFER-NAU@Waterboards.ca.gov
Quick Links
- Preliminary 2023 Public Water System Risk Assessment Results Map
- Preliminary 2023 State Small & Domestic Well Risk Assessment Results Map
- 2023 Aquifer Risk Map
- 2022 Public Water System Risk Assessment Results Map
- 2022 State Small & Domestic Well Risk Assessment Results Map
- 2022 Aquifer Risk Map
- Capacity Development
- SAFER Program
- SAFER Funding
- Human Right to Water Information
- Public Drinking Water General Information
Contact
Kristyn Abhold
Kristyn.Abhold@Waterboards.ca.gov
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