New research: Inequities in drinking water quality among domestic well communities and community water systems, California
Roughly 10% of California’s public drinking water systems are currently out of compliance with state drinking water quality standards, and an estimated 6 million Californians are served by systems that have been in violation at some point since 2012. A disproportionate number of water quality violations in the state occur in smaller drinking water systems that serve rural, low-income communities, where degraded infrastructure and a lack of resources make it challenging to meet regulatory standards. Communities served by water systems with elevated contaminant levels are disproportionately poor and Latinx, raising environmental justice concerns.