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How Drinking Water Standards are Created in California
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes federal standards for drinking water contaminants that each state must enforce. These standards determine the maximum concentration allowable for a specific contaminant in drinking water at the tap. States must comply with these standards, but also have the option to adopt more stringent standards, or develop standards regulations for contaminants that the federal government has not acted on (perchlorate is a good example of such a standard). A state cannot set a drinking water standard that is less protective than the US EPA.
In California
TCP in California's Drinking Water
California is the only state to date to regulate 1,2,3 trichloropropane (TCP) in drinking water. Because of its serious health impacts, the standard for TCP is 5 parts per billion (ppb), which is the level at which the chemical can be reliably detected in water. Dozens of water systems have successfully sued the two mega-companies that caused contamination in the state’s water – Dow Chemical and Shell - in order to recoup treatment costs. At the same time, corporate attempts to challenge the standard in court have failed.
A tragedy that could have been avoided
In the 1940s, the agricultural