Background

On October 1, 2003, CWS filed its general rate case applications (now consolidated) for its South San Francisco, Stockton, Mid-Peninsula, Salinas (two applications), and Bakersfield districts. Except for the Mid-Peninsula application, all applications indicated the possible presence of 1,2,3-

Trichloropropane (TCPA) in some company wells. In these applications, CWS asked the Commission to find that the presence of TCPA, at the tested levels, does not constitute a threat to public health. In the alternative, CWS asked the Commission for authority to establish memoranda accounts for TCPA water treatment expenses and the opportunity to file offsetting applications to recover these treatment costs. Shortly after filing its applications, CWS sought (with Office of Ratepayer Advocates' concurrence) to dismiss the Stockton, Mid-Peninsula, and Salinas applications with permission to re-file them in late 2004. The company also sought permission to establish memoranda accounts to record expenditures for mitigating arsenic in the Stockton and Salinas districts and nitrates, MTBE, and other contaminants in the Salinas District (Motion to Establish Memorandum Accounts Upon Withdrawal of Applications (December 2, 2003).)

In response to these requests, the Scoping Memo required an expedited evidentiary hearing on water quality issues in the South San Francisco, Stockton, Salinas, and Bakersfield districts. Although CWS had requested the dismissal of the Stockton, Salinas, and Mid-Peninsula applications for other reasons, the Scoping Memo indicated that those dismissals would not be approved until additional information was received about the TCPA issues in the Stockton and Salinas districts. CWS's testing has not detected TCPA levels in the Mid-Peninsula water system, and this district was not involved in the expedited evidentiary hearing.