"After years of analysis and debate, California regulators have adopted a nation-leading drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen found in water supplies across the state.
The dangers of the toxic heavy metal, also known as chromium-6, became widely known in the 1990s after a court case that then-legal clerk Erin Brockovich helped develop against Pacific Gas & Electric for contaminating water in the town of Hinkley in the Mojave Desert. The story of tainted water in that case, which led to a $330-million settlement, inspired an Oscar-winning movie starring Julia Roberts.
The California Legislature in 2001 called for the state to develop a drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium. But the path to finalizing a standard involved years of debates over the health hazards and the costs of treating water to remove the carcinogen."
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