Water

In October 2025, the City of Cerritos Public Works Department erred in submitting its required coliform treatment technique report (Level 1 Assessment) after the required deadline.   The City received a notification of a violation from the State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water (DDW). 

On August 19, 2025, a routine sample initially reported positive results for total coliform bacteria. However, repeat sampling conducted on August 20 – including upstream, downstream, and three source samples - returned negative results. This confirmed that the initial positive results were not accurate and did not reflect an actual contamination. All follow-up bacteriological sampling confirmed that the City's water system met all applicable water quality standards and posed no threat to public health. 

This reporting process is known as a Level 1 Assessment, which means the water system must identify a possible cause to the total coliform positive samples and corrective actions are needed/taken. Failure to conduct or submit a completed assessment, or failure to complete the corrective actions, is a violation of DDW’s Coliform Treatment Technique. 

While the City took the appropriate action to ensure its water quality system met required standards, the required report was not submitted by the DDW deadline.

No public health risk or harm materialized from the delayed reporting. The violations were purely administrative and timing-related in nature and created no actual or potential threat to public health. The City performed all required water quality tests in accordance with State law.  No actual water quality violation occurred.

Coliform is bacteria that is naturally present in the environment and used as an indicator that other, potentially harmful, waterborne pathogens may be present or that a potential pathway exists through which contamination may enter the drinking water distribution system.

When coliform is found during testing, follow-up testing is required and correction actions are taken. After the routine sampling on August 19, 2025, reporting positive results for total coliform bacteria, repeat sampling was conducted within 24 hours, and resulted in negative results. 

Upon formal notification of the violations, the City submitted a petition for reconsideration of enforcement citations to the State Water Resources Control Board. Specifically, the City requested that the State Water Board:

1. Reconsider and withdraw Citation 05_16_25C004 in its entirety.
2. Reconsider and withdraw Citation No. 05_16_25J_004 in its entirety.
3. In the alternative, stay and hold the citations in abeyance without penalty in recognition of the unusual circumstances and lack of public health impact.

The City has been awaiting a response to the reconsideration request. On June 1, the State Water Board informed the City that absent a decision on the reconsideration request, the public must be notified by June 12.

While there has still been no determination on the petition for reconsideration, the City was given a deadline of Friday, June 12, to notify all water customers of the violations.  

Preparing a letter and mailing through the United States Postal Service ran the risk of not being delivered to all customers by the deadline. Furthermore, the City does not possess the email addresses of all water customers. However, the City does possess phone numbers for all customers. It was determined that an automated call service provided the best option for reaching all customers by deadline.