980s, however, the effectiveness of the Water Resources Control Board was undercut by lack of funding, a pattern which began under Governor Jerry Brown and continued under George Deukmejian.3 As its effectiveness waned, so did public confidence in it. At the same time, a number of trends and events turned public attention increasingly toward the safety of drinking water supplies. Burial of toxic wastes became a prime public concern, beginning with the Love Canal affair in the late 1970s. One of the chief concerns related to toxic waste burial was the risk of leakage of toxic wastes into aquifers from which drinking water supplies were drawn.
The rising concern about water safety went with rising public standards for drinking water quality. These new standards expressed themselves in a variety of ways, some not directly related to environmental health and safety, but nevertheless playing an important part in shaping public perceptions and attitudes. From the late 1970s on, people began buying Perrier and other "designer wate
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