That the Utility Authority:
A.  Approve and authorize the Executive Director to enter into an agreement with the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) to share the consultant costs, in the amount of $215,360, for the Utility Authority's expense related to the development of a lead service line inventory; and,

B.  Authorize staff to issue a purchase order to the Municipal Water District of Orange County in the amount of $215,360 for the development of a lead service line inventory.

In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The SDWA requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine the level of contaminants in drinking water in which no adverse health effects are likely to occur with an adequate margin of safety. These non-enforceable health goals, based solely on possible health risks, are called maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs). The MCLG for lead is zero. The EPA has set this level based on the best available science which shows there is no safe level of exposure to lead. The fact that there is no safe level of exposure underscores the fact that any action to reduce exposures can have impacts on lives and livelihoods. Since lead contamination in drinking water is often the result of corrosion in the plumbing materials belonging to water system customers, the EPA established a treatment technique rather than setting a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for lead. A treatment technique is an enforceable procedure or level of technological performance which water systems must follow to ensure control of a contaminant.

In 1991, the EPA published a regulation to control lead and copper in drinking water (the Lead and Copper Rule). The Lead and Copper Rule requires water systems to monitor drinking water at customer taps. If lead concentrations exceed an action level of 15 ppb (parts per billion) in more than 10% of the customer taps sampled, the water system must undertake action to control corrosion. Since 1991, the City of La Habra has been required to collect samples from thirty locations once every three years. Since that time, the City has been in compliance with the monitoring requirements, and at no time has the action level established by the EPA been exceeded.

On January 15, 2021, the EPA published revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule known as the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR). Under the new LCRR, all community water systems are required to conduct a comprehensive inventory of both publicly owned and privately owned service line materials and identify any lead or galvanized steel pipe requiring replacement, or to identify any "lead status unknown" service lines. Since La Habra's population exceeds the 50,000 person threshold, the inventory information must be made publicly available online. The initial Service Line Inventories (SLIs) must be completed by October 16, 2024.  
 
As the various water agencies in Orange County began taking steps to meet the new EPA requirements, the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) reached out and started working with participating agencies to develop a proposed Scope of Work and a Request for Proposals for consulting firms that could perform the necessary assessments. This was done to help achieve an economy of scale in the overall cost of this system assessment across the various water agencies operating in the County. In response, five consulting firms submitted proposals which were reviewed by a panel comprised of MWDOC representatives and several participating agencies.  Hazen and Sawyer was selected as the consultant to prepare SLIs for participating agencies.

The La Habra Utility Authority has a successful history of partnering with MWDOC utilizing similar cost sharing agreements to address complex issues within the water industry, while achieving economies of scale to help control costs. Staff recommends that the Authority approve executing an agreement with MWDOC to administer the development of a lead service line inventory for La Habra's 13,000 water services by utilizing the consulting services that will be provided by Hazen and Sawyer.

Approval of this agreement will have no impact on the City's General Fund. If approved by the Authority, this project will span two fiscal years, so the project costs will be allocated evenly between Fiscal Years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 with $107,680 per fiscal year for a total project cost of $215,360 from the Utility Authority Water Fund. Staff estimates that, by participating in the MWDOC agreement, the Utility Authority will save approximately $30,000 for this work compared to the Authority directly bidding the work to consulting firms. The adopted Water Operations budget has sufficient funding in Fiscal Year 2023-2024 for half the cost of this agreement, and staff will include a funding request in the proposed FY 2024-2025 Water Operations budget for the remaining $107,680 amount of the cost of the agreement.