Proposition 4 would allow the state to borrow $10 billion by
issuing bonds bonds for natural resources and climate
activities. Individual proposals include efforts to ensure safe
drinking water, strengthen drought, flood and water
“resilience,” increase clean energy production, address sea
level rise, create parks and outdoor access, provide heat
mitigation or fund wildfire prevention programs.
The health benefits of fluoridated drinking water may be waning
as Americans increasingly turn to using toothpastes and
mouthwashes that already contain fluoride, a new review
suggests. The research, published Thursday in the Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews, came to that conclusion after
analyzing more than 157 studies that compared tooth decay in
kids living in communities that added fluoride to their water
supply with communities that didn’t.
Yucca Valley property owners who aren’t complying with a ban on
septic tanks are beginning to feel the hammer from state
enforcers, who want an aquifer that supplies drinking water for
the rural town off Highway 62 to stop being polluted with
toilet waste runoff. After years of warnings, state water
regulators have now issued cease-and-desist notices against
three Yucca Valley homeowners for failing to hook up to public
sewage lines, and for discharging septic waste into the town’s
primary drinking water source. If they do not comply by
December, they could face penalties of $5,000 a day and
referral to the state attorney general for possible further
sanctions. None of the owners responded to requests for comment
from The Desert Sun.
There is a new effort that aims to expand access to drinking
water across California. The state is working to adapt to
hotter, drier conditions by creating new regulations for
converting wastewater to high-quality drinking water. Officials
say it clears the way for water systems to recycle and reuse
millions of gallons of water per day. The State Water Resources
Control Board unanimously approved the regulations in December
2023. California invested 24 million dollars in research
problems to ensure the water would be safe to drink.
The long and ultimately successful journey to clean drinking
water for a rural school district west of Bakersfield may point
to a path forward for other remote areas dealing with
groundwater contaminated by nitrates and the carcinogen
1,2,3-TCP. Instead of the bottled water they have relied on for
almost a decade, students of the Rio Bravo-Greeley Union School
District were able to use the district’s drinking fountains
last week — many for the first time — thanks to state
grants and proceeds from a lawsuit the district brought against
companies found liable for the 1,2,3-TCP pollution. Challenges
RBG faced along the way are becoming frustratingly common in
the Central Valley, from the contamination itself to the
district’s inability to consolidate with a larger water
district nearby and the considerable expense of maintaining the
new treatment system. The state’s hope now is that communities
in similar situations pool their resources to achieve similar
results.
Public health officials have issued a drinking water warning to
Jurupa Valley residents after a positive case of E. Coli was
discovered at a local water source. The warning remained
in effect through the weekend but was lifted on Monday
afternoon after tests found that there were no traces in the
water. The positive test sample of the fecal indicator was
found on Wednesday, according to the Jurupa Community Services
District. Authorities say that the sample was found before
disinfection took place and it was subsequently removed from
the water system. They also said that the sample was not
found in the distribution system nor was it discovered in the
treatment system, but rather in a contained water source.
The Jurupa Community Services District has lifted a drinking
water warning after tests cleared the water supply for any
remaining presence of E. Coli in Riverside County. On
Wednesday, a water sample “detected E. coli at a water source
before disinfection, not in the distribution system,” district
officials said. “The water source was removed from the system.”
On Sept. 27, a Drinking Water Warning was issued for parts of
Jurupa Valley. Those in affected areas were encouraged to
boil water before consuming. There were also stations where
water bottles were being handed out for free. … Crews
worked to disinfect and flush out the water systems. After
water quality test samples taken on Thursday and Friday came
back negative for contaminants, the Drinking Water
Warning was lifted on Saturday night.
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because
high levels could pose a risk to the intellectual development
of children. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that
it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to
water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that
mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could
be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but
didn’t say what those measures should be. It’s the first time a
federal judge has made a determination about the
neurodevelopmental risks to children of the recommended U.S.
water fluoride level, said Ashley Malin, a University of
Florida researcher who has studied the effect of higher
fluoride levels in pregnant women.
California Governor Gavin Newsom reduced delays caused by the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by signing Senate
Bill 149. According to the Governor’s Office, this was to
accelerate critical infrastructure projects to ensure safe
drinking water, boost the state’s water supply and modernize
the transport system. Governor Newsom signed this late last
year, and now an appellate court rejected the CEQA lawsuit
against the Sites Reservoir Project less than 270 days after it
was filed. Executive Director, Regina Chichizola said because
of the law passed by Governor Newsom, Save California Salmon
and CEQA lost the lawsuit against Sites Reservoir. Chichizola
said the lawsuit had to do with water pollution issues, low
river flows, and inundating lands that are critical to Native
American People. Chichizola expressed her concern, saying the
reservoir could pull millions of acres of water from the
Sacramento River where the salmon population is already down 60
to 80 percent.
Support for Proposition 4 — the $10 billion climate bond — is
climbing with less than two months before polls close in the
November election. New polling released Thursday by the Public
Policy Institute of California found 65 percent of likely
voters back the proposal to fund flood protection and climate
resiliency projects. That’s up from 59 percent in PPIC’s July
survey, conducted just after the measure cleared the
Legislature and qualified for the ballot. Proposition 4 has
among the highest support of the 10 ballot measures voters will
weigh on, putting the campaign in a strong position heading
into the fall.
… The need to find tools to address PFAS contamination in the
United States was made more urgent last spring when the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new
limits on two types of common PFAS in drinking water. Utilities
required to meet these new standards are left to mostly rely on
technologies that can remove PFAS from drinking water, but
don’t actually destroy the compounds. But researchers say hope
is on the horizon. Emerging evidence suggests that microbes,
small organisms invisible to the naked eye found in soil, air,
water and even the human body, may be able to assist in
breaking down PFAS. Recent research shows that certain bacteria
can break apart the strong carbon and fluorine bonds in PFAS
compounds. This progress occurs as Fixed Earth Innovations
moves forward with its own microbe-based solution that relies
on organisms that already exist on or near specific
contaminated sites.
A federal judge is weighing whether to impose a preliminary
injunction on a Northern California county facing a class
action on claims it restricts water access for Asian Americans.
Four Siskiyou County residents claim that a county ordinance is
discriminatory against Asian Americans, who in some cases are
forced to use bottled water. White residents don’t face the
same discrimination. In one case, someone provided up to 4,000
gallons of water to another with no county intervention, said
attorney John Do, who represents the plaintiffs, at a Friday
hearing.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is pressing the Bureau of
Reclamation to speed millions of dollars in federal payments to
communities that lack reliable access to water, asserting that
tribal nations and rural communities have seen their requests
“engulfed in red tape and bureaucracy.” Wyden raised the issue
Wednesday during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Water and Power hearing on a host of water
infrastructure bills. “The delay in securing clean drinking
water for many rural and tribal communities is unacceptable,”
said Wyden, the subcommittee chair. “These communities have
enough to worry about … without having to use their limited
capacity to jump through a wave of hoops for drinking water.”
As cities and towns plan to remove several harmful “forever
chemicals” from drinking water, scientists are starting to
focus on a less-studied version of the chemicals that is
showing up virtually everywhere they look. Trifluoroacetic
acid, or TFA, could be one of the most widespread forever
chemicals in the environment, according to a growing body of
research. While there’s no consensus on its effects on human
health, TFA does not break down naturally, and its similarity
to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) tied to cancer
and other diseases is enough to warrant further study,
researchers said. “It’s absolutely everywhere,” said Sarah
Hale, an environmental researcher who manages ZeroPM, a project
funded by the European Union. “TFA will be the next discussion
in America, I can guarantee it. It will be about how should we
treat it and what should we do.”
After more than 14 years of litigation, the City of Lindsay
announced Monday that it won $9.5 million in damages to treat a
water well contaminated with perchlorate, a fertilizer
ingredient sold to citrus growers in the 1940s that trickled
into the groundwater supply. … In 2010, the city filed a
lawsuit against SQM North America, a subsidiary of large
Chilean mining company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile,
which sold the fertilizer to American farmers starting in the
1920s. Perchlorate is a toxic chemical that interferes with the
body’s uptake of iodine and is particularly harmful to
children. It is banned from drinking water in California except
at very low levels.
Fresno will receive nearly millions of dollars in federal
funding to improve water infrastructure. Rep. Jim Costa
(D–Fresno) announced Wednesday that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding Fresno $3.7 million.
… The $3,700,214 in funding from the EPA will go toward
replacing failing water pipes and to protect Fresno’s drinking
water system infrastructure from drought. It is the first
time the EPA has awarded funding under the Drinking Water
System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability grant
program. Further, the city was also awarded $494,390
through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Grant Program,
which was funded by the 2021 infrastructure law. Those
funds will help with renewable energy capacity, technical
knowledge and the deployment of clean energy efficiency
projects.
In a major milestone, state regulators announced in July that
nearly a million more Californians now have safe drinking water
than five years ago. But across the state, the problem
remains severe: More than 735,000 people are still served by
the nearly 400 water systems that fail to meet state
requirements for safe and reliable drinking water. Latino farm
communities struggling with poverty and pollution are
especially hard-hit. About three-quarters of the failing
systems in California have violated state or federal standards
for contaminants that are linked to serious health problems,
such as cancer and effects on developing babies, according to a
CalMatters analysis of state data. Among the most pervasive
contaminants are arsenic, nitrate and a chemical called
1,2,3-trichloropropane, or 1,2,3-TCP. Combined, elevated levels
of these chemicals contaminate more than 220 failing systems
serving nearly half a million people.
The L.A. City Council is moving forward with a “comprehensive
plan” to investigate the source of lead exposure found in
Watt’s tap water, as well as repairs for the affected areas.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the
Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) have been
directed to immediately develop strategies to protect people
living in Watts. … A nonprofit, Better Watts Initiative,
studied hundreds of water samples from across the neighborhood
and found varying levels of lead in 21 of them, including from
public housing units.
On the heels of an environmental study that found lead-tainted
water in public housing developments in Watts, Los Angeles
Mayor Karen Bass has called on the city’s housing authority and
largest water utility to conduct further testing for the potent
neurotoxin. The discovery of lead-contaminated tap water in
Watts, home to three of Los Angeles’ 13 major public housing
complexes, has jolted city leadership and raised serious
questions about the age of the plumbing that serves low-income
residents. Although California banned the installation of lead
pipes in 1985, the average home in Watts is nearly 77 years
old, which makes the South L.A. neighborhood more likely to
contain corroded lead plumbing.
In Colorado, you’re never too far from Rocky Mountain snowmelt,
so it’s no surprise that an annual competition for the state’s
best-tasting water ended in a three-way tie. However, after a
sudden-death sip-off, Denver took home the gold. The taste
test, held at the American Water Works Association Rocky
Mountain Section conference in Keystone, pitted eight
submissions from around the state against one another. Bronze
and silver also went to Front Range cities. Louisville took
second and Broomfield took third.
A costly project to replace drinking wells closed due to
contamination is moving forward, as the issue of safe drinking
water bubbles to the top of the city’s election buzz. Five
years ago, the city of Pleasanton began shuttering the
underground water supply, eventually closing three wells and
switching an estimated 22,000 customers to a water wholesaler
that serves eastern Alameda County. Now, officials are on the
hunt for new wells, a project estimated to cost between $23
million to $43 million. The issue has emerged as one of the
hottest topics among candidates running for seats in November,
including the tight race between current Mayor Karla Brown and
Councilman Jack Balch. When the city in 2019 detected
perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — substances
commonly found in Teflon or “non-stick” chemicals, known as
PFAs — it “was a surprise to us all,” Brown said in an
interview.
A northern California community is questioning the length of
time for a school district to report elevated levels of lead
across multiple schools’ drinking fountains and faucets,
reports USA Today. “We are putting systems in place to ensure a
lack of effective communication does not occur again, and that
school communities receive quick notice when this kind of
testing is taking place on their campuses,” the Oakland Unified
School district wrote in a letter to families last week.
However, staffers at affected schools – including Frick United
Academy of Language – noted the lead testing had taken place
between late March and June, although the results were released
only in August. Of the 1,083 fixtures tested, nearly 200
contained lead levels above the district’s limit of 5 parts per
billion (ppb).
A federal report this week linked high levels of fluoride in
other countries to lower IQs in children, adding new evidence
in the long-simmering debate over adding fluoride to public
drinking water systems. The report from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services’ National Toxicity Program concluded
with “moderate confidence” that a collection of non-U.S.
studies associated higher levels of fluoride with lower IQ in
children. The report evaluated a collection of previous studies
completed on populations in Canada, China, India, Iran,
Pakistan and Mexico. The review examined total fluoride
exposure from all sources, so it did not solely measure health
effects of drinking fluoridated water. But experts say it will
likely generate debate among anti-fluoride groups who are
pushing for ballot measures and other actions to ban public
water fluoridation in local communities.
Water bubbles up in streets, pooling in neighborhoods for weeks
or months. Homes burn to the ground if firefighters can’t draw
enough water from hydrants. Utility crews struggle to fix
broken pipes while water flows through shut-off valves that
don’t work. … Across the U.S., trillions of gallons of
drinking water are lost every year, especially from decrepit
systems in communities struggling with significant population
loss and industrial decline that leave behind poorer residents,
vacant neighborhoods and too-large water systems that are
difficult to maintain.
Water regulation in Arizona has devolved into a game of
chicken. The governor and farmers are rivals revving their
engines, hoping their opponent will flinch first. Caught
in the middle is Gila Bend, a groundwater basin south of
Buckeye, where the state could decide to impose its most
stringent form of regulation, whether folks like it or not.
Both sides are using Gila Bend as a bargaining chip to win
support for competing legislative proposals. But to what
end? - Written by Joanna Allhands, Arizona Republic digital
opinions editor
The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee is holding an
important hearing Thursday on S. 2385, a bill to
refine the tools needed to help Tribal communities gain access
to something that most non-Indian communities in the western
United States have long taken for granted: federally subsidized
systems to deliver safe, clean drinking water to our homes.
… This is the sort of bill (there’s a companion on the
House side) that makes a huge amount of sense, but could easily
get sidetracked in the chaos of Congress. The ideal path is for
the crucial vetting to happen in a process such as Thursday’s
hearing, and then to attach it to one of those omnibus things
that Congress uses these days to get non-controversial stuff
done. Clean water for Native communities should pretty clearly
be non-controversial.
State health officials know that extreme heat can cost lives
and send people to the hospital, just like wildfire smoke. Now,
new research finds that when people are exposed to both hazards
simultaneously — as is increasingly the case in California —
heart and respiratory crises outpace the expected sum of
hospitalizations compared to when the conditions occur
separately. … The study joins a growing body of research
about the intersection of different climate risks. Last month,
California-based think-tank the Pacific
Institute published a report about how converging
hazards — including wildfires, drought, flooding, sea level
rise and intensifying storms — are harming access to drinking
water and sanitation in California and other parts of the
world. The deadly 2018 Camp fire in Butte
County impacted an estimated 2,438 private wells, the
report said.
After more than two decades of
drought, water utilities serving the largest urban regions in the
arid Southwest are embracing a drought-proof source of drinking
water long considered a supply of last resort: purified sewage.
Water supplies have tightened to the point that Phoenix and the
water supplier for 19 million Southern California residents are
racing to adopt an expensive technology called “direct potable
reuse” or “advanced purification” to reduce their reliance on
imported water from the dwindling Colorado River.
… A state audit from the California Water Resources Control
Board released last year found that over 920,000 residents
faced an increased risk of illness–including cancer, liver and
kidney problems–due to consuming unsafe drinking water. A
majority of these unsafe water systems are in the Central
Valley. The matter has prompted community leaders to mobilize
residents around water quality as politicians confront
imperfect solutions for the region’s supply. Advocates point
out that impacted areas, including those in Tulare County, tend
to be majority Latino with low median incomes. … This
year’s extreme weather has only worsened the valley’s problems.
The storms that hit California at the start of this year caused
stormwater tainted with farm industry fertilizer, manure and
nitrates to flow into valley aquifers.
Tiny pieces of plastic waste shed
from food wrappers, grocery bags, clothing, cigarette butts,
tires and paint are invading the environment and every facet of
daily life. Researchers know the plastic particles have even made
it into municipal water supplies, but very little data exists
about the scope of microplastic contamination in drinking
water.
After years of planning, California this year is embarking on a
first-of-its-kind data-gathering mission to illuminate how
prevalent microplastics are in the state’s largest drinking water
sources and help regulators determine whether they are a public
health threat.
A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Shortly after taking office in 2019,
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water
Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges —
unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing
climate, severely depleted groundwater aquifers and native fish
populations threatened with extinction.
Within days, he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and
veteran water communicator, as director of the Governor’s Water
Portfolio Program to help shepherd the monumental task of
compiling all the information necessary for the portfolio. The
three state agencies tasked with preparing the document delivered
the draft Water Resilience Portfolio Jan. 3. The document, which
Vogel said will help guide policy and investment decisions
related to water resilience, is nearing the end of its comment
period, which goes through Friday, Feb. 7.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
Joaquin Esquivel learned that life is
what happens when you make plans. Esquivel, who holds the public
member slot at the State Water Resources Control Board in
Sacramento, had just closed purchase on a house in Washington
D.C. with his partner when he was tapped by Gov. Jerry Brown a
year ago to fill the Board vacancy.
Esquivel, 35, had spent a decade in Washington, first in several
capacities with then Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and then as
assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California
Natural Resources Agency. As a member of the State Water Board,
he shares with four other members the difficult task of
ensuring balance to all the uses of California’s water.
A new study could help water
agencies find solutions to the vexing challenges the homeless
face in gaining access to clean water for drinking and
sanitation.
The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority (SAWPA) in Southern California has embarked on a
comprehensive and collaborative effort aimed at assessing
strengths and needs as it relates to water services for people
(including the homeless) within its 2,840 square-mile area that
extends from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Orange County
coast.
A statewide program that began under a 2015 law to help
low-income people with their water bills would cost about $600
million annually, a public policy expert told the California
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) at a
meeting last week.
Potable water, also known as
drinking water, comes from surface and ground sources and is
treated to levels that that meet state and federal standards for
consumption.
Water from natural sources is treated for microorganisms,
bacteria, toxic chemicals, viruses and fecal matter. Drinking
raw, untreated water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as
diarrhea, vomiting or fever.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses
the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent
facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully
illustrated with color photographs.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
This 30-minute DVD explains the importance of developing a source
water assessment program (SWAP) for tribal lands and by profiling
three tribes that have created SWAPs. Funded by a grant from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the video complements the
Foundation’s 109-page workbook, Protecting Drinking Water: A
Workbook for Tribes, which includes a step-by-step work plan for
Tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their
drinking water.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this
24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson
River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes the
Lahontan Dam and reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming
areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and
geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the
basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan
Basin Area Office.
This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
Finding and maintaining a clean
water supply for drinking and other uses has been a constant
challenge throughout human history.
Today, significant technological developments in water treatment,
including monitoring and assessment, help ensure a drinking water
supply of high quality in California and the West.
The source of water and its initial condition prior to being
treated usually determines the water treatment process. [See also
Water Recycling.]
A tremendous amount of time and technology is expended to make
surface water safe to drink. Surface water undergoes many
processes before it reaches a consumer’s tap.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
groundwater management and the extent to which stakeholders
believe more efforts are needed to preserve and restore the
resource.
This printed issue of Western Water, based on presentations
at the November 3-4, 2010 Water Quality Conference in Ontario,
Calif., looks at constituents of emerging concerns (CECs) – what
is known, what is yet to be determined and the potential
regulatory impacts on drinking water quality.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
desalination – an issue that is marked by great optimism and
controversy – and the expected role it might play as an
alternative water supply strategy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
This issue of Western Water looks at some of the issues
facing drinking water providers, such as compliance with
increasingly stringent treatment requirements, the need to
improve source water quality and the mission of continually
informing consumers about the quality of water they receive.
This issue of Western Water examines PPCPs – what they are, where
they come from and whether the potential exists for them to
become a water quality problem. With the continued emphasis on
water quality and the fact that many water systems in the West
are characterized by flows dominated by effluent contributions,
PPCPs seem likely to capture interest for the foreseeable future.
This issue of Western Water examines the problem of perchlorate
contamination and its ramifications on all facets of water
delivery, from the extensive cleanup costs to the search for
alternative water supplies. In addition to discussing the threat
posed by high levels of perchlorate in drinking water, the
article presents examples of areas hard hit by contamination and
analyzes the potential impacts of forthcoming drinking water
standards for perchlorate.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
