Guzman

Plaintiffs are 80 men, women, and children who were residents of Jensen Camp Mobile Home Park (Jensen Camp) in Monterey County between 1995 and 2003. Plaintiffs allege that Jensen Camp water was contaminated with dangerously high levels of naturally occurring fluoride since at least 1995 but that plaintiffs were not told about the contamination until 2003. Plaintiffs sued Rick Pinch who was Jensen Camp's owner and water system operator, the County of Monterey (County), and Monterey County Health Department. Plaintiffs appeal from judgment entered after the trial court sustained without leave to amend County's demurrer to the third amended complaint. [1] .

The issue on appeal is whether provisions of the California Safe Drinking Water Act (Health & Saf.Code, § 116270 et seq.) impose upon County a mandatory duty under Government Code section 815.6 to review and respond to water quality monitoring reports submitted by water systems for which County is responsible.

We conclude that regulations implementing the Safe Drinking Water Act imposed a mandatory duty requiring County to perform a monthly review of all water quality monitoring reports it received and to direct the…