I get asked a lot if I drink tap water. It baffles me. Why wouldn't I drink a cheap, highly regulated and tested product vs an expensive product with minimal regulations, and with a huge carbon footprint?
Last Saturday, I listened to a Webinar with Metropolitan Water District Chair of the Board, Adán Ortega, Jr. He mentioned how distrust of tap water has spread like a contagion since they first started tracking it in the 1990s. Professor Manny Teodoro wrote a book about how distrust of water systems has sparked a general distrust of government in general.
The Profits of Distrust: Citizen-Consumers, Drinking Water, and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government explains how "the choices people make about drinking water reveal deeper lessons about trust in government and civic life."
In the 1990s, distrust of tap water was confined to the wealthy or immigrants (who brought over their (logical) distrust of water systems in their home countries). However, bottled water is a large and profitable market. Sowing distrust in tap water is great marketing, but terrible for public health, climate mitigation and democracy.
California public water systems are required to test and report water quality annually. I read mine every year, but realize that many people do not have the science background to decipher the reports.
I recently hosted a one hour Zoom session for people to learn about their local water quality. I had hoped to dispel disinformation about tap water quality. Only one person showed up, the one who requested the session.
Sigh. Anyway, I wrote up a blurb with links:
What’s in your drinking water?
Dec 17, 2025 at 7pm on Zoom
Water and Infrastructure Group
Let's decipher our 2024 Drinking Water Quality Reports and Water Bills together
All California retail water providers (both private and municipal) are required to publish annual Water Quality Reports. It used to be a paper printout included in one of your mid-year water bills. Nowadays, the URL of where you can view it is provided on your bill when it is ready.
You can find the link either from a water bill (around June 2025) or you can search for it using the name of your water provider and "2024 Water Quality Report."
For instance, if you are served by LADWP, your report is here:
https://www.ladwp.com/sites/default/files/2025-07/2025_BOOKLETS_2024_DWQR_E_digital_0. pdf
If you live in Redondo, Hermosa and parts of Torrance:
https://www.calwater.com/docs/ccr/2024/rd-hr-2024.pdf
If you live in Manhattan Beach:
https://www.manhattanbeach.gov/departments/public-works/utilities-division/water-systems/treat ment/annual-water-quality-report
Optional, bring your water bill and we can decipher those, too.
Related past WIG events: Links to view recordings on
https://lwvbeachcities.org/natural-resources.html
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● Who Fills Your Taps? On November 11, 2021
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● Understanding Drinking Water Quality on January 13, 2022
