*By Christian Smith*
Clean water advocate and movie heroine Erin Brockovich is raising red flags over the state of the nation's water supply. She told Cheddar that it's time for the public to take notice of a problem they've largely been ignoring.
"The issue has always been there ー we just either haven't talked about it or it hasn't been exposed," Brockovich said. "We have 18 million miles of lead pipes we're going to have to replace; we're going to have to look at our water infrastructure, we're going to have to look at our municipalities."
The activist, whose life was immortalized in an eponymous film starring Julia Roberts in 2000, cited a whole system of failures that have damaged America's water ー most notably, the ongoing Flint Water Crisis, in which dangerous levels of lead were detected in the Michigan city's water supply. In Brockovich's view, the Environmental Protection Agency is understaffed and underfunded, creating a cascade of mismanaged utilities.
In an effort to give consumers more control over purifying their own water, Brockovich is endorsing a water filtration product for the first time in her storied career. She is partnering with AquaTru, which makes a countertop reverse osmosis water purification system.
Reverse osmosis is the same purification process that most major bottling companies use to filter their water bottles. It removes dozens of contaminants using a variety of filtering materials such as a carbon and even coconut shells.
Whether or not consumers buy a reverse osmosis filtration system, Brockovich wants everyone to educate themselves about the water running from their taps.
"The call to action is: Know your water," Brockovich said. "Don't assume anymore."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/consumer-advocate-erin-brockovich-discusses-the-global-water-crisis).
From the end of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to the beginning of a new zombie apocalypse, here's what's going on in entertainment.
One person was killed and multiple people were sent to local hospitals after a boat capsized Monday during a tour of an underground cavern system built to carry water from the Erie Canal beneath the western New York city of Lockport, officials said.
There was plenty of uncertainty in the run-up to this year’s Tony Awards, which at one point seemed unlikely to happen at all because of the ongoing Hollywood writer’s strike.
Classical music concerts have been popular since the age of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart, but you've probably never thought about attending one in a cemetery. Our own Chloe Aiello spoke with Andrew Ousley, founder of Death of Classical, to learn more about a concert series held in the catacombs of the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
You may not know her name, but you've probably seen her face. Madhulika Sharma has graced Vogue India and ELLE Magazine and modeled for popular brands such as Reformation and Skims. Cheddar's own Hena Doba spoke with Sharma to discuss her globe-spanning modeling career, her education in fashion history, and working alongside Kim Kardashian.
The intimate, funny-sad musical “Kimberly Akimbo” nudged aside more splashier rivals on Sunday to win the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on a night when Broadway flexed its muscle in the face of Hollywood writers’ strike and fully embraced trans-rights with history-making winners.
The ChatGPT chatbot, personified by different avatars on a huge screen above the altar, led the more than 300 people through 40 minutes of prayer, music, sermons and blessings.
New York's Assembly and Senate passed a bill to create a commission that would consider reparations for slavery.
New Orleans' Big Freedia, who many heard on Beyonce's new hit "Break My Soul," talks about upcoming business ventures and music projects, including a new show called Big Freedia Means Business on Fuse TV.
Cheddar's own Chloe Aiello tries out some unusual pickle flavors with Eddie Andre, head of brand at Grillo's Pickles.
