This is an excerpt of the April 19, 2021 edition of What's Up With Water. Circle of Blue looks at a report on California’s drinking water systems showing that hundreds are below health standards, and hundreds more are at risk. In 2018, when California lawmakers were debating a funding package for clean drinking water, one of things they didn’t know was the extent of the need. The State Water Resources Control Board has released the 2021 Drinking Water Needs Assessment report, so now regulators have a detailed picture of where things stand: how many small water systems are failing or at the brink of failure and what it would cost to bring them up to par. The California needs assessment found over 300 public water systems that consistently fail to provide drinking water that meets state and federal standards. Add to this some 600 public water systems that are at risk of failing. There are also roughly 600 state small systems, those that serve fewer than 25 people, that are at high risk of failing to meet health standards because of their location in aquifers with a high risk of contaminated groundwater.