California Drinking Water-Related Laws

IMPORTANT NOTE: These documents are meant to aid staff of the Division of Drinking Water and are not to be relied upon as the State of California’s representation of the law. The published codes are the only official representation of the law. Always refer to the published codes whenever specific citations are required. Follow these links to access Codes (statutes) at California Legislative Information website and for the Office of Administrative Law’s information on obtaining the official California Code of Regulations (CCR).

• California Safe Drinking Water Laws – effective July 22, 2021
  Excerpts of California Health & Safety Code applicable to safe drinking water and environmental laboratory accreditation.

Before citing any statute or regulation, the text of the statute or regulation should be confirmed by visiting the website or the official publications mentioned above. Please report any discrepancies between these documents and the published codes to [email protected].

Drinking Water-Related Regulations

Drinking water-related statutes are from the Corporations Code, Education Code, Food and Agricultural Code, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Public Resources Code, and Water Code. Regulations are from Title 17 and Title 22 of the CCR.

Note that Title 22, Chapter 12, Safe Drinking Water Project Funding and its associated regulations have been repealed and replaced by the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Policy Handbook. More information about DWSRF is available from the Division of Financial Assistance.

Recycled Water-Related Statutes and Regulations

Compilations of recycled water-related laws were once referred to by staff and the regulated community as “The Purple Book.”

NOTE: The statutes are those pertinent to the activities of the Division of Drinking Water. There may be statutes that are not included in the latest update. There are also other recycled water-related laws (e.g., see the Water Recycling Funding Program’s directory of recycled water-related laws). Regulations are from Title 17 and Title 22 of the CCR