Erin Brockovich: the real story of the town three decades later

For the real-life residents of Hinkley, the story continues on.

Despite inspiring an Oscar-winning movie, the story of Hinkley, California, did not have the Hollywood ending viewers may have expected. Hinkley’s story shot Erin Brockovich to stardom and she has continued to crusade for access to safe water. Hinkley is a small southern California community in the Mojave Desert. Since the 1950s, utility company Pacific Gas & Electric has operated a natural gas pumping station. Until 1966, the company used a chemical called chromium 6 to prevent rust. The toxic chemical eventually seeped into Hinkley’s water supply. In 1993, Erin Brockovich -- a divorced, unemployed single mother -- became a activist for clean water after she spoke out against PG&E. “Everywhere I was going in this little community, somebody had asthma, a complaint of a chronic cough, recurring bronchitis, recurring rashes, unusual joint aches, nosebleeds,” Brockovich told “20/20” in a new interview. “It didn't make sense, and so the more I ask questions ... the more I started to piece the puzzle together.”