SACRAMENTO – (INT) - The State Water Resources Control Board Tuesday authorized spending nearly a quarter billion dollars to help local water systems provide safe, reliable drinking water to communities throughout the state.

It marks the beginning of the closure of the safe drinking water gap for more than one million Californians.

More than 300 communities and thousands of domestic well users across the state lack safe drinking water because of contamination by arsenic, nitrates and other chemicals.

Many other communities served by smaller drinking water systems are also vulnerable to water quality violations and lack the financial capacity to build, operate and maintain necessary treatment facilities, the board said.

Story Date: August 29, 2019