In 1996, the United States experienced one of the largest cases of water contamination. The contamination took place in Hinkley, California, and began in 1952, when the city's groundwater was contaminated with hexavalent chromium by a company known as Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The city was completely unaware of this ongoing contamination by PG&E until a woman named Erin Brockovich realized that chromium in the water could be linked to multiple cases of cancers and other medical problems in some citizens. In 1996, he took this case to court and the result was a lawsuit against PG&E and a $333 million settlement. Although similar situations continue to occur in the United States today, the United States has one of the cleanest and safest public drinking water supplies in the world. “Over 286 million Americans get their tap water from a community water system. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of drinking water in public water systems and establishes maximum concentration levels for chemicals and pollutants in water. /18/14, http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_diseases.html) Although the United States provides reliable and safe water, improvements are still needed to stop these preventable water contamination incidents. Year after year, the United States experiences numerous water contaminations that bring negative effects, both environmental and economic, to the nation and its people, but numerous solutions exist to help solve this problem. To fully understand this issue, the process of how typical US water is filtered and treated with paper… which produces these harmful contaminants to prevent chemical waste from entering US water supplies. Finally, the United States may have to completely upgrade its entire water infrastructure because the current water infrastructure has many flaws. These major flaws are that the current water treatment process is not one hundred percent effective, the chemicals used to treat contaminants can create chemical byproducts that pose a threat to human health, and there are many problems, including lead, in the piping system. . While creating and implementing an entirely new and updated water infrastructure can be extremely expensive, some believe it is what is needed for healthier, cleaner water. Water is essential for all living things and is a crucial component of everyday life. The United States needs to place more emphasis on cleaner water because of its great importance.