State Small Water System and Domestic Well Water Quality Data

Senate Bill 200 (SB 200) added Section 116772 (b)(1) and (2) to the Health and Safety Code, which states:

(1) By January 1, 2021, a local health officer or other relevant local agency shall provide to the State Water Board all results of, and data associated with, water quality testing performed by a laboratory that has accreditation or certification pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 100825) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 101 for a State Small Water System or domestic well that was collected after January 1, 2014, and that is in the possession of the local health officer or other relevant local agency.

(2) By January 1, 2022, and by January 1 of each year thereafter, all results of, and data associated with, water quality testing performed by a laboratory that has accreditation or certification pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 100825) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 101 for a State Small Water System or domestic well that is submitted to a local health officer or other relevant local agency shall also be submitted directly to the State Water Board in electronic format.

The state small water system Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) must be submitted to the State Water Board by accredited laboratories via the updated Water System California Laboratory Intake Portal (CLIP):

The domestic well water quality data must be submitted to the State Water Board by accredited laboratories via the updated Domestic Well CLIP:

Additional background on the SSWS and domestic well water quality data and demonstration of the process for electronic water quality data submission was presented during a January 20, 2022 webinar:

  • January 20, 2022: Electronic Data Submission:

The water quality data collected through this process will support updates to the Aquifer Risk Map that identifies aquifers at high risk of containing contaminants that exceed safe drinking water standards, and it will be used as part of the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Program to identify water systems and domestic wells considered at-risk of supplying safe, accessible, and affordable drinking water to communities in both the near and long terms in support of the Human Right to Water.
The Division of Drinking Water developed the following guidance for local health officers to address the water quality data submission requirements:

The guidance provides the process for submitting data for State Small Water Systems (SSWSs) and domestic wells for import into the new SAFER Clearinghouse database. Each SSWS and domestic well will have a profile within the SAFER Clearinghouse for maintaining all historic and future water quality data.

The process for submitting the SSWS and domestic well data was phased, as defined below, with templates spreadsheets to be completed for each phase and import into the SAFER Clearinghouse.

Additional background on the need for the SSWS and domestic well water quality data, the SAFER Clearinghouse, and the process for submitting the data in the template spreadsheets was presented during a January 11, 2021 webinar:

County Data Submission Status Update Report (4/22/2021)

Phase I:

  1. County Contacts.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 10 business days of receiving templates
    2. State Water Board will upload contact data to SAFER Clearinghouse
  2. SSWS Basic Inventory.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 20 business days of receiving templates
    2. State Water Board will upload SSWS inventory into the SAFER Clearinghouse and assign a unique seven-digit Public Water System Identification (PWSID) to each system (unless a PWSID has already been assigned). The new SSWS PWSIDs will be shared with each County.
  3. Domestic Well Facility Inventory.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 90 days of receiving templates
    2. State Water Board will upload domestic well inventory to SAFER Clearinghouse and assign a unique domestic well ID to each well. The domestic well IDs will be shared with each County after they have been generated.

Phase II:

  1. SSWS Facility Inventory.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 20 business days of receiving template pre-populated with SSWS list and assigned PWSID
    2. State Water Board will upload SSWS facility inventory (i.e. – wells) to SAFER Clearinghouse and assign a unique three-digit facility ID extension to each facility. The facility IDs will be shared with each County after they have been generated.

Phase III

  1. SSWS Water Quality Data.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 30 business days of receiving template pre-populated with SSWS list and assigned PWSID plus facility ID extension
    2. State Water Board will upload SSWS water quality data into the SAFER Clearinghouse

Phase IV

  1. Domestic Well Water Quality Data.xlsx
    1. County to complete within 30 business days of receiving template pre-populated with domestic well inventory previously submitted and entered in SAFER Clearinghouse with a unique domestic well ID assigned to each well
    2. State Water Board will upload domestic well water quality data to SAFER Clearinghouse

For questions regarding the data submission requirements and deadlines, please contact Jeffrey Albrecht in the Division of Drinking Water, Needs Analysis Unit at Jeffrey.Albrecht@waterboards.ca.gov