The Oxnard City Public Works and Transportation Committee on Oct. 14 recommended the City Council receive and file the city’s 2022–2024 public health goals report for the municipal water system.

The report documents instances where 11 constituents exceeded public health goals — voluntary health-based benchmarks — while remaining below state maximum contaminant levels that carry enforcement and action requirements. Committee members and staff discussed monitoring, testing frequency and treatment feasibility before the committee voted 3-0 to forward the report to council.

Tim Beeman, assistant director of public works, told the committee that public health goals “are not enforceable” and that the city’s reporting obligation applies to municipalities with more than 10,000 water connections. Beeman said some constituents can be naturally occurring or come from groundwater or purchased water sources, and that while treatment options such as reverse osmosis exist, “in most cases, it’s financial that makes it not feasible.”

Chris Peyton, water division manager, described the city’s monitoring program: “We take samples on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis. There’s annual testing. There’s triennial testing. So we’re continually monitoring as well as monitoring on a continuous basis up with online analyzers, at our stations, at our treatment plants.” Peyton added that the tests reported monthly to the state relate primarily to the state’s MCL standards; the constituents in the public health goals report are advisory and do not trigger the same action thresholds.

Staff clarified that Oxnard’s Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF) is a recycled-water system and is regulated under a separate process from the drinking-water public health goals report. City staff also told the committee that the city posts the public health goals report and the Consumer Confidence Report on the city’s water-quality webpage for public download.

The committee vote to forward the report to the full City Council passed 3-0 (Committee member Basuah, Vice Chair Teran and Chair MacArthur voting yes).