Famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich visited North Texas on a crusade for water quality.
For weeks, she's been calling out cities like Plano and Frisco on social media after she says thousands complained about smelly and funny tasting tap water.
She spoke at a town hall meeting Thursday in Frisco hosted by the newly-formed group Safer Water, North Texas.
“It reminds me when I began as a young girl in Henley, California, when I saw two-headed frogs in green water and everyone wanted to tell me I was crazy. I feel this community's frustration!” Brockovich said.
About 200 people attended the town hall at Frisco Celebration Hall. Tickets were $20.
Brockovich was a no show at a meeting at the North Texas Municipal Water District earlier Thursday.
The District brought in five experts to “confirm our safe processes and practices,” executive director Tom Kula said in an email.
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Brockovich’s colleague, Bob Bowcock, a water resource manager, attended on her behalf.
“It’s good water but it could be better,” Bowcock said.
During her speech, Brockovich drew gasps from the audience when she revealed a violation had just been sent to the NTMWD yesterday.
"Your own TCEQ sent a notice of violation to the North Texas Municipal Water District for a major failure to comply in sampling for volatile organic compounds,” she told the audience.
Late Thursday, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told NBC 5 a violation was issued Wednesday but it was not for a health-based reasons or for contaminant levels.
They say it was for failing to report sample results for drinking water for one facility in 2017.
The NTMWD spokeswoman says she wasn't aware of any violation.
Recent questions about quality center around levels of disinfection byproducts.
Samples taken in Frisco and Plano late last month show levels above safe consumption levels set by the state, but yearly averages well below maximum state and federal regulations.
Brockovich says standards don't always mean safe and will continue her crusade for cleaner water for as long as it takes.
In a statement, Kula said "Erin Brockovich's accusations are unfounded and a disservice to our employees who work 24/7 to provide safe drinking water to their families, neighbors and friends across North Texas."
He also said it would take enormous amounts of the toxins over decades to have a chronic health effect.
