California Drinking Water Needs Assessment

2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment Results

• Final Report
  • Executive Summary: English | Spanish
  • Fact Sheet
• Risk Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment A: Risk Assessment Results Spreadsheet
• Cost Assessment & Funding Gap Analysis
  • Methodology
  • Attachment: Cost Assessment Data and Results
  • Supplemental Appendix: Physical Consolidation Cost Estimate Methodology
  • Supplemental Appendix: Centralized Treatment Cost Estimate Methodology
  • Supplemental Appendix: Decentralized Treatment Cost Estimate Methodology
  • Supplemental Appendix: Additional Long-Term Modeled Solutions Cost Estimate Methodology
  • Supplemental Appendix: Interim Solutions Cost Estimate Methodology
  • Funding GAP Analysis
• Risk Assessment Methodology for State Small Water Systems & Domestic Wells
  • State Small Water Systems At-Risk List
  • Domestic Wells At-Risk List
  • County Risk Indicator Data Analysis
• Affordability Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment: Affordability Assessment Data and Results
  • reporting systemhold Income (MHI) and Economic Status

2023 Drinking Water Needs Assessment Results

• Final Report
  • Executive Summary: English | Spanish
  • Report Summary: English | Spanish
  • Press Release: English │ Spanish
  • Webinar Public Notice: English │ Spanish
  • Webinar Recording
• Risk Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment A1: Risk Assessment Results Spreadsheet
• Risk Assessment for State Small Water Systems and Domestic WellsResults and Methodology
  • Attachment B1: Groundwater Depth Filter
  • State Small Water Systems and Domestic Wells Data Spreadsheet
  • State Small Water Systems At-Risk List
  • County Risk Indicator Data Analysis
• Affordability Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment D1: Affordability Assessment Data and Results

2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment Results

• Final Report
  • Executive Summary | Spanish
  • 2022 Report Summary English | Spanish
  • 05.05.2022 Presentation English | Spanish
  • 05.05.2022 Webinar Recording English | Spanish
• Risk Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment A1: Risk Assessment Results Spreadsheet
• Risk Assessment for State Small Water Systems and Domestic Wells Results and Methodology
  • Combined Risk Assessment Map
  • Aquifer Risk Map
  • Attachment B1: Groundwater Depth Filter
  • State Small Water Systems At-Risk List
• Cost Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment C1: Cost Assessment Data and Results
• Affordability Assessment Results and Methodology
  • Attachment D1: Affordability Assessment Data and Results

2021 Drinking Water Needs Assessment Results

• Full Final Report
  • Executive Summary
  • Risk Assessment for Public Water Systems Results and Methodology
    • Attachment A1: Risk Assessment Results Spreadsheet (Revised version 10/21/2021)
    • 2021 Public Water System Risk Assessment Results Map
• Risk Assessment for State Small Water Systems and Domestic Well Results and Methodology
  • Aquifer Risk Map
  • Attachment B1: Groundwater Depth Filter
  • State Small Water Systems At-Risk List
• 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
  • Attachment E1: Affordability Assessment Results Spreadsheet
  • UNC Small System Rates Dashboard
• 2021 Needs Assessment Press Release: 04.09.2021
• 2021 Needs Assessment FAQs
• 04.13.2021 Presentation
• 04.13.2021 Webinar Recording

Since 2017, the State Water Board has assessed water systems that fail to meet the goals of the Human Right to Water and maintains a list and map of these systems on its website. Systems that are on the Failing list are those that are out of compliance or consistently fail to meet primary drinking water standards. Systems that are assessed for meeting the Failing list criteria include Community Water Systems (CWSs) and non-transient non-community (NTNC) that serve schools and daycares. The Failing list criteria was expanded in April 2021 and may be refined over time.

• The Failing List is updated daily in the SAFER Dashboard
• Failing Criteria (Updated April 2021)

2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment

• December 20, 2023: Proposed Updates for the 2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment
• Public Notice: English │ Spanish
• White Paper
• Presentation
• Webinar Recording

2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment

• Final Report
  • Executive Summary | Spanish
  • 2022 Report Summary English | Spanish
  • 05.05.2022 Presentation English | Spanish
  • 05.05.2022 Webinar Recording English | Spanish

2021 Drinking Water Needs Assessment

• Final Report
  • Executive Summary
  • 04.13.2021 Presentation
  • 04.13.2021 Webinar Recording

State Board Updates

• 2019 State Board Update (08.20.19)
• 2018 State Board Update (03.20.18)
• 2017 State Board Update (02.22.17)

Additional Resources

• United Nations Work on the Human Right to Water Work and Sanitation

Identifying small and medium public water systems 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 3, 2023: Proposed Changes for the 2023 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
    • English
    • Spanish
• December 14, 2020: Risk Assessment 2.0 Webinar 4: Thresholds, Scores and Weights
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper (draft)
  • Executive Summary: Spanish
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording 12-14-2020
• 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
  • Public Notice
  • Webinar Recording 4-17
• 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 3, 2023: Proposed Changes for the 2023 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
    • County Risk Indicator Data Analysis
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
    • English
    • Spanish
• October 20, 2021: SAFER Aquifer Risk Map Proposed Updates
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • Webinar Recording
  • Summary of Updates
• November 4, 2020: SAFER Aquifer Risk Map Board Presentation
  • Agenda
  • Aquifer Risk Map
  • White Paper 
  • 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
  • Public Notice
  • Webinar Recording 4-17
• 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.

• December 20, 2023: Proposed Updates for the 2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment
• Public Notice: English │ Spanish
• White Paper
• Presentation
• Webinar Recording
• December 20, 2023: Proposed Updates to the Drinking Water Cost Assessment Model – Workshop 3: Other Essential Infrastructure, Administrative Needs, and Interim Solutions
• Public Notice: English │ Spanish
• White Paper
• Presentation
• Webinar Recording
• October 5, 2023: Proposed Updates to the Drinking Water Cost Assessment Model – Workshop 2: Modeled Treatment Analysis
• Public Notice: English │ Spanish
• White Paper
• Presentation
• Webinar Recording
• July 14, 2023: Proposed Updates to the Drinking Water Cost Assessment Model – Workshop 1: Physical Consolidation Analysis
  • Public Notices: English │ Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• August 4, 2022: Proposed Changes for the Cost Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
    • English
    • Spanish
• February 26, 2021: SAFER: Cost Assessment Model Preliminary Results and Gap Analysis Webinar
  • White Paper
  • Executive Summary: Spanish
  • Webinar Recording
• 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
  • Public Notice
  • White Paper
  • Webinar Recording
• May 10, 2019: Cost Analysis Workshop
  • Public Notice
  • Agenda
  • Webcast Recording
  • Presentation PDFs:
    • SWRCB DDW, D Polhemus
    • SWRCB DDW, E Leung
    • SWRCB DFA, L Orellana
    • Blue Sky Consulting, M Newman
    • Pacific Institute, L Feinstein
    • Corona Environmental Consulting, T Henrie
    • Provost & Pritchard, K Berryhill
    • UCLA, Y Cohen
    • Los Angeles County Sativa,D Lafferty
    • Central Valley Regional Board, K Longley

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.

• February 3, 2023: Proposed Changes for the 2023 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• November 1, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER Affordability Workshop 3
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• September 20, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER Affordability Workshop 2
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Supplemental Appendix C1
  • Supplemental Appendix E
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• August 8, 2022 Public Webinar on SAFER: Affordability Workshop 1
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording
• February 2, 2022: Proposed Changes for the 2022 Needs Assessment
  • Public Notices: English | Spanish
  • White Paper
  • Presentation
  • Webinar Recording 02-02-2022
    • English
    • Spanish
• 9/11/2020: Advisory Group Webinar Discussion of Affordability
  • Webinar Recording 9-11, starting at 1 hr 14 minutes into presentation

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
  • Public Notice: English | Spanish
  • Introducing the California Small Water Systems Rates Dashboard
  • Introducing the Dashboard
  • Presentation

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.

• Overall Needs Analysis Conceptual Plan, May 2019
• Notice of January 2019 Workshops
• Notice of May 10, 2019 Workshop