A May 10 article, titled "Why Federal Efforts to Ensure Clean Tap Water Fail to Reach Faucets Nationwide," describes the situations and places where RCAP does its work. The article speaks about small communities in California and the challenges they are having accessing funding and expertise in order to comply with federal regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency. There are communities like this not only in California but in the other 49 states across the country.

The New York Times ran an article on Nov. 13 about Seville, Calif., a small town in a heavily agricultural section of the state that is suffering from contaminated drinking water.

The article talks about how dirty water affects people in many parts of their daily lives - at home, at school, in caring for themselves.

This is the type of community that RCAP assists - small, rural, often minority and often living below the poverty line.