SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California will begin capping the amount of a cancer-causing contaminant in the state's drinking water to prevent people’s exposure to the chemical, following a Wednesday vote from state regulators.
The State Water Resources Control Board voted to approve a new standard of public health protection by capping the allowed amount of hexavalent chromium in treated water, at 10 parts per billion. The board said that the new limit is designed to help reduce the number of Californians exposed to the chemical by one-fifth.
Also called chromium-6, hexavalent chromium is an odorless and tasteless heavy metal that may be found in groundwater, either from natural causes or following improper disposal of contaminated waste at industrial sites.
Numerous studies have linked long-term exposure to the chemical to a risk of cancer when ingested. Researchers estimate that a person who drinks two liters of water daily for 70 years could have a 1-in-2,000 chance of developing cancer.
However, the Golden State has not had a cap on the amount of hexavalent chromium allowed in drinking water since 2017.
California regulators first set strict new standards for chromium 6 in drinking water in 2014, but upon a 2017 review, a state judge said officials didn’t “properly consider” the financial impacts of their decision and ordered the creation of a new plan.
The state’s cap on total chromium — meaning all chromium compounds present in water, including hexavalent and the less toxic trivalent chromium — in drinking water has been 50 parts per billion, which is still twice as strict as the federal limit.
Following the ruling in 2017, the board began developing a new cap standard for the chemical based on new data, with a new economic feasibility analysis to consider the range of impacts on water systems once implemented. They say the analysis ultimately found that the costs of adding treatment could severely strain small water systems.
That decision drove board staff to propose a longer implementation schedule for the new chemical cap, to allow smaller water systems to use research from larger systems looking to meet the standard.
The board’s new cap will allow a range of two years to implement the standard for systems with over 10,000 service connections and up to four years for systems with under 1,000 connections.
E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Board, said that the board works closely with smaller water systems across the state using a funding program for improving drinking water treatment.
"Setting a new MCL for chromium-6 has been a top public health priority for years, and the standard adopted today improves health protections for communities with impacted drinking water supplies," Esquivel said. "Affordability continues to be front of mind for us as we adopt this MCL, and we will continue to work with water systems in these communities to achieve the Human Right to Water."
The new limitation on the chemical must be finalized by the Office of Administrative Law, likely by Oct. 1.
At least one city in California has previously faced lawsuits over drinking water tainted with the chemical, which can lead to accusations of violating federal hazardous waste laws. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself on the issue in 2022 by ruling that the Northern California city of Vacaville can't be held liable for transporting hazardous waste because of the presence of hexavalent chromium in its drinking water.
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