Almost 400 water systems serving nearly a million Californians don't meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water supplies — and fixing them would cost billions of dollars. More than two-thirds of these failing water systems serve communities of color, and more than half are in places struggling with poverty and pollution , according to an annual assessment released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board. These water systems failed to provide water "which is at all times pure, wholesome, and potable," as required.
Some violated drinking water standards for chemicals, bacteria, taste or odor . Others rely on bottled water, or have failed to meet treatment, monitoring or other requirements. About 913,000 people, as of Jan.
1, were served by the water systems that didn't meet the requirements, dropping to about 771,000 as of today. Even more Californians, around 1.54 million, got their drinking water from hundreds of water systems considered at risk of failing, the report said — and it rose to more than 1.
8 million as of today. Nearly 144,000 wells were threatened by encroaching contaminants and shortages. Failing water systems span the state — from tiny Del Norte County on the Oregon state line to San Diego and Imperial counties near the border with Mexico.
They cluster densely in the Central Valley and along the Central Coast, where groundwater overuse , agricultural chemicals and smaller, struggling water systems collide — particularly in l.
