(a)  The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment shall place a priority on the development of a public health goal for arsenic in drinking water, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 116365, sufficient to allow it to adopt the goal no later than December 31, 2002.

(b)  Commencing January 1, 2002, the department shall commence the process for revising the existing primary drinking water standard for arsenic, and shall adopt a revised standard for arsenic not later than June 30, 2004. In considering the technological and economic feasibility of compliance with the proposed standard pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 116365, the department shall consider emerging technologies that may cost-effectively reduce exposure to arsenic in drinking water.

(c)  On or before December 31, 2002, the Secretary for Environmental Protection shall develop language regarding the health effects associated with the ingestion of arsenic in drinking water for inclusion in consumer confidence reports pursuant to Section 116470. On and after July 1, 2003, this language shall be included in the consumer confidence reports mailed or delivered to customers by each water system that measures arsenic in finished water at levels that exceed the applicable public health goal.

(d)  The language developed by the Secretary for Environmental Protection for use in consumer confidence reports to describe the health effects associated with the ingestion of arsenic in drinking water shall be developed in accordance with primacy requirements described in subdivision (e) of Section 141.151 and subsections (b), (c), and (d) of Section 142.12 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e)  Nothing in this section affects or changes the date for implementation of a revised arsenic standard by public water systems as required in Parts 9, 141, and 142 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(Added by Stats. 2001, Ch. 604, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2002.)