"The worst water Colt Smith has seen in 14 years with Utah’s Division of Drinking Water was at a mobile home park, where residents had been drinking it for years before state officials discovered the contamination.
The well water carried cancer-causing arsenic as much as 10 times the federal limit. Smith had to put the rural park under a do-not-drink order that lasted nearly 10 years.
“The Health Department refers it to us like ... ‘Why aren’t you guys regulating it?’ We had no idea it existed,” he said.
More than 50 years after the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed to ensure that Americans’ water is free from harmful bacteria, lead and other dangerous substances, millions of people living in mobile home parks can’t always count on those basic protections.
A review by The Associated Press found that nearly 70% of mobile home parks running their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules in the past five years, a higher rate than utilities that supply water for cities and towns, according to Environmental Protection Agency data. And the problems are likely even bigger because the EPA database doesn’t catch all parks."
Michael Phillis, Travis Loller and M.K. Wildeman report for the Associated Press July 24, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"Takeaways From AP’s Report On Water Quality And Safety At US Mobile Home Parks" (AP)
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