30 Years After Erin Brockovich Activism, California Attempts To Limit Drinking Water Contaminant
Three decades after famous clean drinking water activist Erin Brockovich found that the contaminant hexavalent chromium was harming consumers in California, the state is moving forward with a regulatory standard to limit it. But Brockovich is far from relieved.
“California’s State Water Board has proposed a long-awaited regulatory standard that would limit the toxin’s presence in drinking water,” The Hill reported. “But according to Brockovich, the proposed regulation is insufficient — and amounts to no more than ‘lip service’ and ‘politics.’”
The proposed regulation would establish a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for hexavalent chromium in drinking water at 10 parts per billion and would likely take effect in 2024 if adopted. Brockovich has pointed out that this limit is not strict enough to protect consumers from the harmful effects of the contaminant, and that California should not be the only state pursuing an MCL.
Whether or not the proposed regulation is strict enough to actually protect consumers, it’s clear that even 30 years after Brockovich first brought national attention to this contamination, it is still highly prevalent.
“Traces of hexavalent chromium are widely found in the drinking water of millions of Californians, with some of the contamination naturally occurring and some from industries that work with the heavy metal,” according to Cal Matters. “State data shows that 129 community drinking water systems serving more than 4.1 million people have reported hexavalent chromium levels above the proposed standard. In addition, 51 systems serving institutions and businesses — including 11 schools — and three water wholesalers exceed the proposed limit.”
Despite Brockovich’s advocacy and the prevalence of hexavalent chromium, there is still some debate about how harmful it is as a drinking water contaminant.
“Until recently, the science was mixed on whether hexavalent chromium causes cancer when ingested,” per Cal Matters. “But in 2008, National Toxicology Program studies showed rats and mice that drink high doses of hexavalent chromium for two years developed oral and intestinal cancers… Chemical industry representatives have criticized the studies.”
And California has attempted to institute a similar MCL for hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in the past, but a state court struck it down due to technical and economic issues.
But regardless of any past challenges or current opposition to the latest hexavalent chromium MCL, if and when it gets approved it will have an undeniably significant financial impact on California’s water systems and its ratepayers.
“The total costs — covering monitoring and water treatment — are projected to be about $157 million annually for community water systems and $5.5 million for nontransient non-community water systems,” per The Hill.
To read more about how regulators grapple with drinking water contamination, visit Water Online’s Regulations And Legislation Solutions Center.