An Associated Press investigation found widespread failures to meet safe drinking water standards in U.S. mobile home parks, where residents often rely on poorly regulated or untested water systems.
Michael Phillis, Travis Loller and M.K. Wildeman report for the Associated Press.
In short:
- Nearly 70% of mobile home parks with their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules over the past five years, far more than municipal utilities.
- Aging infrastructure, unregulated water sources, and weak oversight leave many residents exposed to contaminants like arsenic and bacteria.
- Some states, including Utah and Colorado, have begun enforcing stronger protections, but most do not regulate park water systems even when problems are known.
Key quote:
“There’s sort of the communal nature of like, everybody should have access to clean water. It seems to transcend political ideologies; it seems to transcend religious ideologies.”
— Colt Smith, Utah Division of Drinking Water
Why this matters:
Mobile home parks house nearly 17 million Americans, many of them low-income or elderly. These communities often fall through regulatory cracks, leaving residents dependent on small water systems that lack oversight or resources for repairs. Contaminants such as arsenic or bacteria can remain undetected for years, raising risks of cancer and gastrointestinal illness, among others. Even when parks tap into city water, decrepit pipes and poorly maintained infrastructure can foul the supply before it reaches homes. With climate change and aging rural utilities straining water systems nationwide, mobile home residents remain among the most exposed to unsafe drinking water — and least equipped to navigate the patchwork of state and federal protections meant to safeguard public health.
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