The City of Maywood is the third smallest city in Los Angeles and one of its densest, with about 28,000 people living in a 1.14 square mile area. Despite the city's small size, it has faced a number of big problems in the past and now faces the biggest challenge of all: trying to make the city's water supply safe and potable.

The simple issue of safe drinking water is a complicated one in Maywood. Besides having three privately-owned water companies supplying the city's water needs, the city also houses a Superfund site resulting from ground water contamination due to  chemical mixing operations in the 1940s through the early 1990s. All the water companies claim that the water is safe to drink and say that they have conducted testing to substantiate their claims.

However, despite these claims, on any given day, the water can be shades of brown and emit a foul odor. Because of the water companies' unwillingness to respond to the city residents' concerns, the residents have successfully organized to make changes to improve the water quality on their own. Besides voting in progressive politicians to the city council, they were successful in conducting independent community water tests in 2006 which showed levels of manganese above the federal secondary maximum contaminant level. Although manganese is a naturally occurring mineral, there are fears that long term exposure could lead to neurological damage. More studies are being done on the subject. The city residents also successfully contributed to the passage of AB890, which aims to clean up the drinking water by issuing mandates to the water companies to reduce the manganese levels and bring the water to the same standards as that of nearby neighborhoods.

Last night, NRDC lawyer David Pettit and I had the privilege of attending a community meeting where community residents shared some of their horror stories. With a big jug of brown sludge in front of us on the table, we heard residents talk about how the water is so dirty that it has ruined their clothes when they attempt to wash with it, how the bad smell being emitted from the water makes them nauseous and how they have to buy bottled water for their everyday needs. One particular comment that stuck with me was a resident who said he doesn't even give the dog the city's water for fear of getting it sick. David and I expressed NRDC's commitment to working in solidarity with community groups and pledged an ongoing conversation with the city residents on their water problems.