Section 116270.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)  Every citizen of California has the right to pure and safe drinking water.

(b)  Feasible and affordable technologies are available and shall be used to remove toxic contaminants from public water supplies.

(c)  According to the State Department of Health Services, over 95 percent of all large public water systems in California are in compliance with health-based action levels established by the department for various contaminants.

(d)  It is the policy of the state to reduce to the lowest level feasible all concentrations of toxic chemicals that when present in drinking water may cause cancer, birth defects, and other chronic diseases.

(e)  This chapter is intended to ensure that the water delivered by public water systems of this state shall at all times be pure, wholesome, and potable. This chapter provides the means to accomplish this objective.

(f)  It is the intent of the Legislature to improve laws governing drinking water quality, to improve upon the minimum requirements of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, to establish primary drinking water standards that are at least as stringent as those established under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and to establish a program under this chapter that is more protective of public health than the minimum federal requirements.

(g)  It is the further intent of the Legislature to establish a drinking water regulatory program within the State Department of Health Services in order to provide for the orderly and efficient delivery of safe drinking water within the state and to give the establishment of drinking water standards and public health goals greater emphasis and visibility within the state department.

(Added by renumbering Section 116300 by Stats. 1997, Ch. 734, Sec. 6. Effective October 7, 1997.)