User:Diana.her08/sandbox

Failing Water Systems
In July 2014, the California Department of Public Health passed down administration of the state’s Drinking Water Program to State Water Board. The California State Water Resources Control Board oversees approximately 7,400 water systems. Each year the SWRCB documents harmful health-based violations in approximately 7% of their community water systems. In their 2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board’s failing criteria identified 385 failing public water systems. Under their criteria, these water systems failed to meet safe standards either on groundwater contamination, outdated regulatory compliance, technical capacity, financial magnitude, or managerial scope These public water systems provide drinking water to more than 900,000 California residents. A 2019 report found cancer-causing contaminants such as 1,2,3-TCP in roughly 495 public water systems in California. A 2023 public health journal found that groundwater and small water systems contain the commonly found contaminants uranium, arsenic, and nitrate; which if consumed in larger quantities than US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pose health detriments.

Water system failures, health-based violations, and increased non-compliance are most commonly found in low-income, communities of color. The San Joaquin Valley for example hosts one third of California's failing water systems