1. (a) A community water system shall conduct a customer survey and participate in, and provide information for, a public hearing held by the State Board. At least 30 days prior to placing information into a public repository per subsection (a)(2), the public water system shall submit a Public Acceptance Protocol, to the State Board for review. The Public Acceptance Protocol must satisfy the following requirements in order to receive State Board approval:

   1. (1) Prior to conducting a customer survey, a community water system shall participate in and provide information for a public hearing that, at a minimum, disseminates the following to those in its service area:

      1. (A) a description of the public water system's POE Treatment Strategy,
      2. (B) the adverse health effects, as specified in the appendices to section 64465, associated with the contaminant(s) of concern,
      3. (C) POE Operation and Maintenance Program and Monitoring Program information that necessitates customer involvement,
      4. (D) the estimate of any anticipated increase in water bills that may result from utilization of POEs, and
      5. (E) the supporting documentation, assumptions, and calculations used to determine any anticipated increase in water bills proposed to be presented at the public hearing.
   2. (2) At least 30 days prior to the public hearing, the community water system shall place the information to be presented at the public hearing into a publicly accessible repository and notify the State Board and those in its service area of the date, time, and location of the public hearing, as well as the location and hours of operation of the repository. If the public water system serves multi-unit residential dwellings including, but not limited to, apartments and residential institutions, whether sub-metered or not, the public water system shall provide notice to each resident of such residential dwellings.

   3. (3) Following the public hearing, the community water system shall deliver a survey to each of its customers. The survey shall be delivered in a manner designed to reach each customer and in the language appropriate for communication with the customers. The survey shall consist of the following two choices:

      1. (A) “I vote FOR the use of Point-of-Entry treatment devices.”, and
      2. (B) “I vote AGAINST the use of Point-of-Entry treatment devices.”
2. (b) The community water system shall at all times comply with the most recent Public Acceptance Protocol approved by the State Board pursuant to this section.

3. (c) Use of POE treatment devices in lieu of centralized treatment shall be considered to have no substantial community opposition if:

   1. (1) the sum of the number of non-voting customers and the number of customers voting against POEs, is less than half of the total customers; and
   2. (2) no more than 25 percent of the total number of customers voted against POEs.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 116271, 116275, 116350 and 116375, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 116275, 116325, 116350, 116380 and 116552, Health and Safety Code.

History

1. New section filed as an emergency for filing and printing only on 4-1-2016; operative 4-1-2016 pursuant to Health and Safety Code (HSC) section 116380(b); exempt from the APA and OAL review pursuant to HSC section 116380(b). HSC section 116380(b) also provides that the regulations are to remain in effect until the earlier of January 1, 2018, or the effective date of regulations adopted by the State Board in accordance with HSC section 116380(a). (Register 2016, No. 14). For prior history, see Register 2015, No. 2.

2. Repeal and deletion by operation of Government Code section 11346.1(g) and Health and Safety Code section 116380(b)(2) (Register 2018, No. 1).

3. New section filed 3-22-2019; operative 3-22-2019 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2019, No. 12).