Lack of Funds to Halt State Check of Drinking Water

California health officials will shut down the state’s drinking water inspection program next week, escalating a simmering dispute with legislative critics over control of toxic pollutants.

Officials with the California Department of Health Services said Thursday they have no choice but to halt the program after Jan. 1, because lawmakers repeatedly failed to provide the $3 million needed to sustain it through the fiscal year that ends June 30, 1989.

As a result, officials said, most of the 130 employees of the agency’s public water supply branch, based in 13 offices throughout the state, will be assigned other duties pending restoration of funds.

Some internal work will continue, such as review of permit requests, said Cliff Sharpe, field operations chief for the water supply branch. But he said field work will cease, including water sampling and compliance inspections of water utilities.

Sharpe said county health departments may help pick up the slack, and added that the state will respond to any serious threat to public health. Even with compliance work on hold, water utilities still will be obliged to meet health rules, Sharpe said.

Mary Griffin, chief legislative liaison for the health department, expressed hope that negotiations with legislators will bring speedy restoration of funds.

“We do not want to shut the water program down,” Griffin said. “It’s the premier program in the nation.”

Kip Lipper, chief consultant to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, said the dispute reflects “a sense of real frustration” among lawmakers “that this department just hasn’t done the job.”

Some legislators, including committee chairman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto), have accused health officials of moving too slowly in setting standards for dozens of chemical pollutants that increasingly are found in trace amounts in ground water supplies.

The state currently has advisory limits, called “action levels,” for 15 toxic contaminants. Earlier this year, the health department held public hearings on proposed legally binding standards for 24 pollutants, including solvents and pesticides. A final regulation has been adopted for one, with rules on 11 more due in weeks.

Standards-setting requires painstaking analysis of risks and technical feasibility, Sharpe said. “I don’t think anyone outside our branch really comprehends what it takes to develop these (standards),” he said.

But some lawmakers and environmentalists are not impressed. Lipper called the record “dismal,” given that much of the state’s drinking water is pumped from wells.

Last summer, the Legislature withheld half of the $6 million needed annually by the water supply branch on the assumption that legislation requiring changes in the department would provide the rest. But that legislation didn’t pass.

In October, state health officials asked the Department of Finance for a deficiency authorization of $3 million for the remainder of the fiscal year. The request was referred to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which asked finance officials not to provide the money until a compromise could be reached on improvements in the health department.

When the Legislature returns Jan. 3, it will face an urgency measure filed by Assemblyman Bill Jones (R-Fresno) to restore the $3 million. In addition, State Health Director Kenneth Kizer and Sher are discussing proposed changes in department operations in an attempt to break the stalemate.

“We’re sitting here with our fingers crossed,” Sharpe said.