General (13)
Susana Barrios
From:Stephanie Mercadante <burglin.stephanie@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, May 12, 2026 6:33 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] On Behalf of Dave Duran, District 1, Councilmember Ryan Balius
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
For public comment on May 12, 2026:
I'm confident there are many Anaheim city employees who genuinely care about the safety of our
drinking water. They care because they take pride in their jobs. They care because they do not want their
family, neighbors, and residents to get sick from drinking unsafe water.
We know some of the city employees had the courage to raise concerns – ask questions – report
operational issues – and advocate for transparency; and instead of being supported by management,
some were isolated, retaliated against, ignored, or targeted as a problem.
The public needs to know that the Anaheim City Council and Public Utilities officials/management have
misinformed the public by repeatedly assuring residents that Anaheim’s tap water was safe while
insinuating that the city's water concerns did not exist.
Residents who continued asking questions were labeled a “disinformation brigade.” One resident was
interrupted multiple times while attempting to express their concerns about Anaheim’s water quality.
So let’s take a moment to document and recap the following for those who live, work,
vacation, and the children who go to school in Anaheim.
The Mayor and other city officials say the water is safe.
Residents and employees who are raising concerns and/or are asking questions about the
water are being recognized by city officials as a problem.
Let me remind everyone about the importance of why Tri-halo-methanes are a serious
concern. TTHMs are among the most common contaminants found in US drinking water. Key health
concerns include:
Increased risk of bladder cancer — the most consistently associated health effect
Possible links to colorectal cancer
Liver, kidney, and central nervous system damage
Possible reproductive effects, including miscarriage risk at high exposure levels
I believe the photos shown earlier tell a different story than the City is telling the public.
A healthy organization does not punish employees for caring about public safety. A healthy
organization listens to them.
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And now the City’s own recently released Annual Water Quality Report raises more questions than it
answers.
On one hand, the City willfully reports to residents that Anaheim’s water met all State and Federal
standards in 2025 – But buried inside the report is an admission that a required water quality sample
was not collected during the third quarter of 2025 — and the City explicitly states, quote, “we cannot
be sure of the quality of the drinking water during that time.”
So, which statement are residents supposed to believe? Because both cannot comfortably exist
together.
The report also confirms Total tri-halo-methanes (THM) levels reached as high as 77 parts per
billion — just below the legal maximum of 80.
Transparency should not be treated as a threat to the City. It should be the foundation of public trust.
We demand that the city release the flushing logs. Release the hydrant records. Release the
SCA(y)DA trend data. Release the operational timelines. Release the internal communications. And
stop misinforming the public. The public deserves to know the truth and not dangerous, self-serving,
strategically fabricated lies!
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