Report 2021-118 Recommendations

To provide transparency and accountability in the State Water Board's efforts to assist failing water systems, the Legislature should amend state law to require the State Water Board by June 2023 to include its timeliness goals and its performance in comparison to those goals in the annual expenditure plans and reports it already submits to the Legislature. The Legislature should also require the State Water Board to include in those reports a list of drinking water project applications that have exceeded the board's timeliness goals and a brief description of the reasons for delays, its strategies for overcoming those delays, and its estimated time to execute funding agreements.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, streamline its application process by eliminating the need to submit unnecessary application documents and financial information.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, review and revise its credit review process, including the creation of a limited credit review process for grant-funded projects.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, develop a process to fast-track urgent water projects, particularly for failing water systems affecting a large number of people or serving a disadvantaged community. One option for doing so would be to use state-only funding that is not subject to federal requirements.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, establish expectations for how quickly its staff will review initial applications, communicate to water systems about the need for additional information or revisions, and wait for water systems to respond before reaching out to determine the cause of application delays. In addition, the State Water Board should document and measure staff adherence to these expectations and make adjustments to its review and communication processes as necessary.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, establish and implement a process for project managers and staff to document their communications with water systems.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, develop metrics and performance benchmarks for key phases of the application and funding processes, including the number of days it should take to execute a funding agreement after it receives a complete application. It should also review recent past applications in light of these new metrics to identify common reasons for delays—including an increase in consolidation projects—and develop processes to overcome these delays.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, determine whether to change the way it assigns staff to projects, including whether to dedicate staff to working only on applications or on monitoring projects under construction.

To minimize the prolonged periods during which Californians suffer without safe drinking water, the State Water Board should do the following by January 2023, obtain input from its advisory group on the development and execution of staff expectations, metrics, and benchmarks related to its application and funding processes.

To increase transparency in the funding process and make its online search tool more useful to water systems applying for funding, by January 2023 the State Water Board should update its online search tool for funding applications to include a description of the additional information the State Water Board needs from the water system to continue processing its application.

To increase transparency in the funding process and make its online search tool more useful to water systems applying for funding, by January 2023 the State Water Board should update its online search tool for funding applications to include any deadlines the State Water Board has issued to the water system to provide additional information.

To increase transparency in the funding process and make its online search tool more useful to water systems applying for funding, by January 2023 the State Water Board should update its online search tool for funding applications to include the cause of any prolonged delays in the process, including the need for reviews by external parties.

To increase transparency in the funding process and make its online search tool more useful to water systems applying for funding, by January 2023 the State Water Board should update its online search tool for funding applications to include the date the State Water Board expects to complete its reviews and award funding to the water system.

To ensure that it has sufficient staff to process funding applications in a timely manner, by July 2023 the State Water Board should evaluate its progress in meeting its performance goals and assess whether its current staffing levels are sufficient. If the State Water Board finds that it needs additional staff to meet its goals or to prevent a backlog of applications, it should request additional funding from the Legislature to meet its staffing needs.

To ensure that it effectively manages technical assistance projects and oversees technical assistance providers' performance, by January 2023 the State Water Board should establish performance metrics and time frames for its review of technical assistance providers' deliverables to verify that the providers have addressed water systems' needs in an appropriate and timely manner. The State Water Board should include its metrics and performance expectations in all of its technical assistance provider agreements.

To ensure that it is maximizing the number of water systems that are aware of available technical assistance and funding options, including failing water systems and water systems serving disadvantaged communities, the State Water Board should immediately amend the contract with its current outreach provider to coordinate with the State Water Board to ensure that the provider does not work with systems already receiving technical assistance. The State Water Board should also develop a plan by January 2023 to avoid future outreach work that duplicates the efforts of its providers or of its staff.

To address the funding gap identified in its needs assessment report, the State Water Board should immediately work with the Legislature, and with federal agencies to the extent possible, to request the resources necessary to ensure that water systems can meet drinking water standards, including repairing or improving water treatment technologies, consolidating water systems, and providing technical assistance.