SFEP Works with Community-Based Organizations and Tribes to Address Tap Water Concerns

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)'s San Francisco Estuary Partnership partnered with 11 community partners working in disadvantaged neighborhoods in the Bay Area and the California Indian Environmental Alliance along with Simple Lab, an environmental testing service, specializing in laboratory logistics and sampling, to test tap water for its newly released Tap Water Testing Report.

The Estuary Partnership's San Francisco Bay Area Tap Water Testing Program marks the biggest community-driven tap water quality testing initiative effort in this region. It was funded through California's Integrated Regional Water Management program, established by a voter-approved ballot measure in 2014.  

"The Tap Water Testing Program empowered us to assist 50 community members in addressing immediate concerns about their drinking water," said Jennifer Adams, Senior Program Manager at Nuestra Casa. "While the water meets the US EPA's Safe Drinking Water standards, residents expressed significant concerns about its quality and affordability. In response, we launched the Community Water Task Force to amplify community voices, engage with water utility companies and government agencies, and tackle the underlying issues contributing to the mistrust of our drinking water." 

The Estuary Partnership and its outreach partners developed the community-driven Tap Water Testing Program, which operated from 2019 to 2022, after results from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Needs Assessmentreport revealed widespread distrust of tap water by underserved Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Rather than disregard these concerns, the Estuary Partnership collaborated with participating outreach partners to define program parameters and testing solutions.  

The Estuary Partnership conducted research on tap water quality testing, engaged utilities, and worked with water quality experts to standardize program components required to ensure the data was informative and scientifically defensible. Afterward, each outreach partner led the development of the specific tap water quality testing effort in their community or Tribe. Participants were recruited by each outreach partner and were often the same individuals or households who participated in the Regional Needs Assessment. 

The Tap Water Testing program - including data collection, analysis and interpretation - was formed directly from the Disadvantaged Community and Tribal Involvement Program's San Francisco Bay Regional Water Needs Assessment findings and by subsequent requests from Tribes and disadvantaged communities to investigate their concerns about their tap water quality.  

To ensure independently verified and scientifically robust results, the San Francisco Estuary Partnership and its outreach partners teamed with SimpleLab, which connects individuals and groups with certified laboratories to conduct rigorous environmental testing.  Each community and Tribal partner worked directly with SimpleLab, with support from the project team, to collect and submit water samples for a point-in-time analysis. Each community selected from a menu of testing panels based on local environmental concerns, existing water quality data, and specific tap water quality concerns collected in the Regional Needs Assessment.  

"The Tap Water Testing program was the largest urban, CBO co-implemented, non-lead tap testing program I am aware of, and certainly the biggest I have been a part of. It was a privilege to work on such a novel and collaborative effort," observed Gregory Pierce, UCLA Urban Planning Professor. "The results of the work have already led to some improvement in infrastructure in the Bay Area and have implications for further advocacy and investment in the region. This project also underscores how regulators need to do more to account for the factors in drinking water quality which often lead to mistrust, but are obscured in premise plumbing."

In addition to working with SimpleLab, extensive consultation also was undertaken with local utilities, regulators and other groups to ensure transparency and communication with key partners across the process, allowing the goal of the testing to stay focused on this program serving as a data collection effort envisioned and led by the participating communities and Tribes, and a testing and reporting effort carried out by an independent third party.   

"EBMUD supports water quality testing and is proud to say that EBMUD water meets or surpasses all state and federal water quality standards," says David Briggs, Director of Water Operations for the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. "We also encourage our customers to test their water quality, to make sure the plumbing inside their home or building unit is safe. Visit ebmud.com/leadto request a voucher for a free lead test if you are concerned, and our annual water quality report is available at ebmud.com/waterquality." 

In a broader sense, the Tap Water Testing program connects with the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which last year announced a ruling that will go into effect in 2027 making annual drinking water quality reports more understandable and accessible to the public.  

A summary of the Tap Water Testing Program results provided below:  

• 555 samples were taken and tested for contaminants. These samples resulted in 34,296 test results. 
• Approximately 0.08% of test results exceeded primary regulatory standards where they existed (10 out of 12,895). Eight of the 10 samples represented unique locations, two were retests. 
• Exceedances of much stricter Public Health Goal standards were found to occur in about 5% of all tests where they existed (640 out of 12,946), with a consistent range of 3-6% by community.  
• About 2% of all tests with relevant secondary (aesthetic) standards exceeded those standards (89 out of 4,565).  
• 70 samples were taken and tested for 14 different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as a forever chemical). None exceeded any health-related response or even notification level.  

"This has been an amazing opportunity to collaborate with communities and Tribes to identify and address their concerns through a data collection effort that meets the needs of various vested parties. We hope this process will be modeled in other communities, as it's a pathway toward democratizing water quality data, expanding community trust and making all our communities stronger," said James Muller, the Estuary Partnership's Principal Environmental Planner.   

"While more work is ahead for communities that identified water needs," Muller continued, "the Tap Water Testing Program Report successfully provided a snapshot of water quality for its partners and met broader goals by generating better regional data on tap water quality and perception. This report is a positive step forward in moving the state towards safe and affordable water for all."  

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The San Francisco Estuary is named in the federal Clean Water Act as one of 28 "estuaries of national significance."  Millions of people, hundreds of communities, and many industries rely on the San Francisco Estuaryfor fresh water, recreation, agriculture and more. Additionally, thousands of wildlife species rely on the estuary for habitat.For over 30 years, the San Francisco Estuary Partnership has worked together with local communities and federal and state agencies to improve the health of California's most urbanized estuary. 

For more information about the San Franciso Estuary Partnership's Tap Water Testing Report or the Tap Water Testing Report Appendix please visit: https://www.sfestuary.org/tap-water-testing-report/. An executive summary of the report is provided in both Spanish and Traditional Chinese.  

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