The Erin Brockovich Chemical Is Back: What Chromium-6 Means for Your Water Today

Most people know the name Erin Brockovich from the 2000 film that made her famous — but the actual case behind that movie happened right here in San Bernardino County, and the chemical at the center of it is making real headlines again in 2026, including right here in our own service area.

What Actually Happened in Hinkley

From 1952 to 1966, Pacific Gas & Electric operated a natural gas compressor station near Hinkley, a small Mojave Desert town in San Bernardino County. To prevent rust in its cooling towers, PG&E used hexavalent chromium, commonly called chromium-6 — then dumped the leftover wastewater into unlined ponds, where it leached into the aquifer supplying Hinkley's drinking water.

Erin Brockovich, a legal clerk with no formal law training, uncovered the connection in 1993 after finding medical records that didn't belong in a routine real estate file. Her investigation tied a cluster of cancers and other illnesses among Hinkley residents directly to the contaminated water. The resulting lawsuit, Anderson v. Pacific Gas and Electric, ended in 1996 with a $333 million settlement for more than 600 residents — the largest direct-action settlement in U.S. history at the time. PG&E later settled additional related cases in 2006 and 2008.

Why This Isn't Just History

For decades after the settlement, chromium-6 had no dedicated drinking water standard in California — it was regulated only as part of "total chromium," at a far less strict threshold. That changed in April 2024, when the California State Water Resources Control Board formally adopted the nation's first drinking water standard specifically for hexavalent chromium: a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion. California remains the only state in the country with a standard specific to chromium-6.

Water systems have a phased compliance timeline extending through 2028 depending on their size, which means many California water agencies are still actively working toward meeting the new limit right now, in 2026.

It's Already Showing Up Close to Home

This isn't an abstract, far-away issue. In 2025, testing in the Coachella Valley — part of our own service area — detected chromium-6 levels between 12 and 21 parts per billion in local water supplies, above California's new 10 ppb limit. Local water officials have been clear that this doesn't represent an immediate emergency, and the levels remain well below the much looser federal standard of 100 ppb for total chromium. But it's a real, current example of exactly the kind of contaminant California is now taking seriously enough to regulate specifically, decades after Hinkley first put it on the map.

Natural vs. Industrial: Not All Chromium-6 Has the Same Origin

One nuance worth understanding: chromium exists naturally in rock and soil throughout California, and can convert into chromium-6 through natural geological processes, entirely separate from industrial contamination like what happened in Hinkley. This is genuinely important context — a chromium-6 detection in your water doesn't necessarily mean there's a hidden industrial source nearby; it may simply reflect the natural mineral composition of the local groundwater basin. Either way, the health risk from long-term exposure is the same regardless of whether the source is natural or industrial, which is exactly why California's new standard doesn't distinguish between the two — it simply sets a limit based on safe exposure levels.

What You Can Actually Do

The first step is always the same: find out what's actually in your water rather than assume. Our homepage includes a free lookup tool powered by the Environmental Working Group's tap water database, letting you check exactly what's been detected in your specific area.

Our Alka75™ under-sink system uses a 22-stage reverse osmosis process built to reduce lead, chlorine, and chromium-6 itself, restoring the minerals that give your water a clean, balanced taste. If you're curious what's specifically showing up in your water, testing your own tap is always the most reliable way to know.