Santa Paula, California

Santa Paula’s rule is a city ordinance, not a statewide salt-softener ban. Chapter 57 “Water Softeners” (Ord. 1160, passed September 5, 2006). § 57.01 says the chapter is adopted pursuant to the city’s police powers and Cal. Health & Safety Code § 116786, to protect beneficial uses of the Santa Clara River downstream of the city’s wastewater plant. Ask Public Works or the agency on the sewer bill about the address.

§ 57.03: it is unlawful for any person to install or replace, or cause to be installed or replaced, a SRWS in a residence located within the city’s jurisdiction. Penalty, see Chapter 13. § 57.02 defines residence as a place of dwelling — homes, apartments, condominiums, and mobile homes, occupied or not. It defines SRWS as an ion-exchange softener that uses a chloride-based exchange and is recharged with a chloride-based brine that is then discharged into the city’s sewer. That definition is chloride-based, not “sodium only.” Do not read a potassium-salt self-regenerating exception into Chapter 57.

§ 57.04 is the printed exception: the chapter does not apply to water softeners recharged by portable cartridges supplied by service providers where the brine from recharge is not discharged into the city’s sewer. § 57.05 authorizes the City Manager to run a buy-back for existing SRWS units; the amount is by City Council resolution. That is not a removal deadline in the section we opened.

Separate § 51.165 (Ord. 1093, passed February 17, 2004; Am. Ord. 1250, passed May 20, 2013): apparatus that produces wastewater with mineral content exceeding the property’s supply must be registered; unregistered use is unlawful; a name change on water service requires a notarized affidavit that no self-regenerating water softener is on the property. Penalty, see § 51.999. That is a registration rule, not a second install ban.

The city’s Brine-Discharging Water Softener and Incentive Program PDF quotes § 57.03 and names portable-exchange tanks regenerated off site, or non-salt-based units, as the rebate path. Rebate eligibility on that form is residences served by the City of Santa Paula sewer — not septic, and not commercial or industrial. That form’s rebate scope is not a rewrite of § 57.03’s “city’s jurisdiction” install/replace ban.

Drinking water is City of Santa Paula Water System. Groundwater from Santa Paula Basin wells — the 2024 Water Quality Report (published June 2025, calendar year 2024) lists Wells 01B, 11, 12, 13, and 14. Table 2 (2023–2024) prints hardness 550 mg/L as CaCO3 (range 459–628) and sodium 91 mg/L (87–94) — one hardness column, not a blend. Table 3’s treated hardness 553 mg/L is a 2020 row; we do not blend it with Table 2. Table 12 (2024) prints free chlorine 1.67 mg/L (0.10–1.67), MRDL 4.0 — free chlorine, not chloramine. TTHMs 14 µg/L (7–14). HAA5 3 µg/L (2–3). CCR contact: water@spcity.org / Water Division (805) 933-4282.

Kitchen shopping stays the Cloud RO / Waterdrop path already used on other cities if a listing is why you are looking. Confirm Chapter 57 with the city before you buy or install anything that regenerates to the sewer.