There’s a huge problem looming as California moves beyond
fossil fuels: How to get its declining oil industry to plug and
remediate tens of thousands of oil and gas wells that already
sit idle or won’t be producing for much longer. And
unfortunately, it’s looking like the companies responsible for
the wells, tanks and pipelines won’t end up paying anything
close to what it will take to clean up the mess they leave
behind. All told, it could cost as much as $21.5 billion to
clean and decommission … Without swift and dramatic
changes, much of the cleanup costs will fall to taxpayers. That
would be a shameful abrogation of responsibility by an industry
that has for more than a century profited mightily from
extracting California’s underground deposits while fueling the
climate crisis, fouling the air and contaminating soil and
water.
An algae bloom prompted city officials to post caution signs at
its Lower Otay Reservoir. The City of San Diego advises the
public to not expose their skin to the water while the
cautionary alert is in effect. However, the algae bloom
does not impact the safety or quality of the City’s drinking
water, officials said. The water is treated using several
processes prior to being delivered to homes and businesses,
according to the City. Local biologists found out the
water at Lower Otay Reservoir tested positive for
Cyanobacteria, also known as “blue-green algae.”
Washington and Maryland are the latest states seeking to hold
chemical manufacturers liable for soil and groundwater
contamination caused by so-called “forever chemicals.” The
suits, filed in the states’ respective court systems, accuse
3M, DuPont and other makers of concealing longstanding
information about the dangers associated with toxic per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of more than 9,000
laboratory-produced chemicals used for a wide range of
industrial, commercial and consumer product applications for
more than 80 years.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., convened his first hearing as
chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee
on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, on Wednesday. Sen. Padilla
appeared on the KCRA News morning show on My58 and said the
hearing will focus on how rising water rates, aging
infrastructure and extreme weather events have affected access
and affordability of clean water across the country.
… According to a state audit in 2022, California
required an estimated $64.7 billion to upgrade its water
infrastructure. In April, the EPA awarded a fraction of that,
$391 million. To hear more about the subcommittee’s
initiatives, watch the attached video.
The people of Fairmead, California, in the Central Valley, have
struggled to gain reliable access to drinking water for years.
The unincorporated community of around 1,300 — “mostly people
of color, people of low income, people struggling and trying to
make it,” according to Fairmead resident Barbara Nelson —
relies on shallow wells to meet its needs. But in recent years,
the combination of drought and excessive agricultural pumping
has caused some domestic wells to go dry, and one of the
town wells is currently very low. Last year, Fairmead
received a grant to help plan for farmland retirement in order
to recharge groundwater under California’s Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.
As trickling snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada slowly raises Mono
Lake — famed for its bird life and outlandish shoreline
mineral spires — advocates are pressuring state water officials
to halt diversions from the lake’s tributaries to Los Angeles,
which has used this clean mountain water source for
decades. Environmentalists and tribal representatives say
such action is years overdue and would help the iconic lake’s
ecosystem, long plagued by low levels, high salinity and dust
that wafts off the exposed lakebed. The city of Los Angeles,
they argue, should simply use less water, and expand
investments in more sustainable sources – especially recycled
wastewater and uncaptured stormwater. This, they say, could
help wean the city off Mono basin’s water for good.
In San Diego County, 139 child care centers have reported lead
levels in drinking water above state safety standards,
according to state data. Centers built before 2010 are required
to test all faucets and drinking fountains, per Assembly Bill
2370. If levels are above five parts lead per billion
particles, they have to be fixed. It’s part of the licensing
requirements for child care centers.
[H]exavalent chromium—a highly hazardous substance emitted by
chrome-plating businesses—is 500 times more carcinogenic than
diesel exhaust, putting it in the cross hair of regulators for
decades. The California Air Resources Board today approved a
landmark ban on use of the substance by the chrome plating
industry. The ban requires companies, who opposed the action,
to use alternative materials. … The toxin has some
presence in popular culture. The court battle over the presence
of the chemical in drinking water in the San Bernardino County
town of Hinkley was dramatized in the movie “Erin
Brockovich.” But environmental advocates and residents of
Los Angeles’ low-income, industrial neighborhoods and cities
have long raised concerns.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more
than 9 million lead pipes (which is a significant source of
lead contamination) in drinking water across the United
States. It’s a problem that gained a national spotlight
after the Flint, Michigan water crisis which began in 2014.
Shortly after, California became the first state in the country
to make a commitment to remove all of its lead service lines.
But the lead pipe problem still persists. That problem is
highlighted in a new report mandated by state law and focuses
on potential lead contamination in the drinking water of
state-licensed childcare facilities. The report revealed that
drinking water at almost 1,700 childcare facilities across
California (roughly 1 in 4) exceeded the amount of lead the
state allows in drinking water.
“Produced water” is water that returns to the surface as
wastewater during oil and gas production. The water typically
contains hydrocarbons from the deposit as well as naturally
occurring toxic substances like arsenic and radium, salts and
chemical additives injected into the well to facilitate
extraction. These additives include carcinogens and numerous
other toxic substances that have the potential to harm human
health and contaminate the environment. … In California,
a local water board allows oil companies to sell their
wastewater to farmers for irrigation, claiming the practice is
safe. But an Inside Climate News investigation found
that the board relied on scant evidence produced by an oil
industry consultant and never reviewed long-term impacts on
plants, soil, crops and wildlife.
Instead of helping to tackle the world’s staggering plastic
waste problem, recycling may be exacerbating a concerning
environmental problem: microplastic pollution. A recent
peer-reviewed study that focused on a recycling facility in the
United Kingdom suggests that anywhere between 6 to 13 percent
of the plastic processed could end up being released into water
or the air as microplastics — ubiquitous tiny particles smaller
than five millimeters that have been found everywhere from
Antarctic snow to inside human bodies.
In the world of water utility finance, it’s widely known that
ratepayers like residents and businesses represent the primary
source of revenue for local water and sewer systems. Therefore,
when regulatory mandates come down from the federal government
with the potential to increase costs for water systems, even
with federal support, it’s generally the local ratepayer who is
left to foot the bill. This is one of the main concerns the
sector is figuring out how to navigate after a big regulatory
announcement in the spring. In March, following much
anticipation, the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released its first-ever proposed National Primary Drinking
Water Regulation for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”
EPA brandished its powers to regulate new drinking water
contaminants earlier this year, but many question whether the
agency will apply the same approach to other chemicals. While
substances linked to health risks from kidney disease to cancer
have cropped up in drinking water systems for decades, the
agency has not issued a drinking water standard for a new
contaminant on its own initiative since 1996. Other drinking
water regulations since then have been mandated by Congress.
But EPA in March took the dramatic step of escalating a
crackdown on a handful of “forever chemicals,” with a proposal
to regulate those notorious substances at very low levels.
When John Mestas’ ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years
ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they “hit paradise,”
he says. “There was so much water, they thought it would never
end,” Mestas says of the agricultural region at the headwaters
of the Rio Grande. Now decades of climate change-driven
drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making
the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the
levels of heavy metals in drinking water. … During
drought, the number of people in the contiguous U.S. exposed to
elevated arsenic from domestic wells may rise from about 2.7
million to 4.1 million, Lombard estimates, using statistical
models. Arsenic has been shown to affect health across the
human life span, beginning with sperm and eggs, James
says.
A team of chemical and environmental engineers at the
University of California, Riverside, has found a way to use
microbial degradation to break down chlorinated PFAS in
wastewater. In their paper published in the journal Nature
Water, the group describes how they tested the ability of
microbes in waste water to degrade some PFAS compounds and what
they found by doing so. Chlorinated polyfluorocarboxylic acids
(PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been widely
used in industrial processing for several decades. In recent
times they have become known as “forever chemicals” because
they break down so slowly in the environment—it has also been
found that they can build up in the bodies of animals,
including humans.
The Center for Environmental Health recently confirmed that
three Bay Area facilities have been discharging toxicants known
as “forever chemicals” into the region’s
groundwater. Metal plating companies Electro-Coatings
of California and Teikuro Corporation, along with a Recology
center in Vacaville, were sent legal notices by CEH after they
were discovered to use PFAS, a group of potentially
harmful chemicals, in their day-to-day operations. These
chemicals were directly released into designated sources of
drinking water below three facilities and now exceed the
Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed limits for
PFAS by over a hundred times, according to a
CEH press release.
For well over a century, the oil and gas industry has drilled
holes across California in search of black gold and a lucrative
payday. But with production falling steadily, the time has come
to clean up many of the nearly quarter-million wells scattered
from downtown Los Angeles to western Kern County and across the
state. The bill for that work, however, will vastly exceed all
the industry’s future profits in the state, according to a
first-of-its-kind study published Thursday and shared with
ProPublica. … Taxpayers will likely have to cover much
of the difference to ensure wells are plugged and not left to
leak brine, toxic chemicals and climate-warming methane.
In test results that suggest thousands of California infants,
toddlers and children continue to be exposed to brain-damaging
lead, data released by the state Department of Social Services
has revealed that 1 in 4 of the state’s child-care centers has
dangerously high levels of the metal in their drinking water.
Lead, a potent neurotoxin that poses a particularly grave
threat to children, was discovered in the water systems of
nearly 1,700 child-care centers licensed by the state. The
highest results came from a facility in San Diego that recorded
11,300 parts per billion at the time of testing — well above
the state’s limit of 5 ppb in child-care centers. One ppb is
the equivalent of one drop of contaminant in 500 barrels of
water.
If safe water is a human right, why does it remain out of reach
for so many? A Stanford-led project, supported by the
Sustainability Accelerator of the Stanford Doerr School of
Sustainability, is focused on the broad goal of achieving the
human right to water (HR2W) in California. Cindy Weng, a
PhD candidate in environmental engineering, is leading the
project’s data analytics for assessing equity in urban water
access during droughts. Recently, she discussed the project,
water equity issues, and potential solutions for California and
the rest of the country.
In 2014, Adam Nordell and his wife bought a 44-acre Songbird
Farm in Maine to grow organic produce and raise a beautiful
family. Seven years later, they found out that their farmlands
were brimmed with toxic chemicals known as PFAS, or per-and
polyfluorinated substances. PFAS are a group of chemicals used
for making fluoropolymer coatings and other products that
resist heat, stains, oil, water, and grease. Fluoropolymer
coatings are found in a range of products, including adhesives,
furniture, non-stick cooking surfaces, food packaging, and
electrical wire insulation. These chemicals are toxic even at
extremely low levels and are called ‘forever chemicals’ since
they are virtually indestructible. Moreover, they are almost
impossible to avoid as they are found practically everywhere,
not just in farmlands.
On May 24, 1923, San Francisco officials sent water thundering
into a valley that Sierra Club founder John Muir described as a
“one of Nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples.”
Thus the controversial Hetch Hetchy reservoir was born – and
100 years later, some environmentalists still cherish the
notion of restoring the temple by draining the valley, even as
San Franciscans continue to rely, almost wholly, on its pure,
high-quality water. … Yet at the same time, the opposite
talk has even begun of raising the O’Shaughnessy Dam that
encloses the reservoir, so the valley can hold even more water.
Today, in conjunction with Infrastructure Week, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $128 million
Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to
the City of Santa Cruz, California to upgrade their drinking
water system to be more resilient to drought and climate
change. With this WIFIA loan, EPA is helping the City of Santa
Cruz protect its water supply and deliver safe, reliable
drinking water to nearly 100,000 residents.
About 1,700 licensed child care centers in California — a
quarter of the nearly 7,000 tested so far — have been serving
drinking water with lead levels exceeding allowable limits,
according to data that the nonprofit Environmental Working
Group secured from the state. Susan Little, a senior advocate
for the environmental group, said it’s “really alarming” that
California infants and preschool-age children are being exposed
to this risk in places where their parents think they are safe.
Lead, of course, has been proven to permanently damage
children’s brains and other parts of their nervous system.
Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that is increasingly being
mixed with fentanyl, heroin and other illicit drugs, has been
detected in Marin County’s wastewater. Although xylazine, also
known as “tranq,” use has been common on the East Coast for
some time, this is the first positive evidence of its presence
in Marin. Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health
officer, made the announcement in a recent update on levels of
COVID-19 infection in Marin. Since most people now rely on
at-home antigen tests to determine if they’re infected, instead
of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that must be
processed through a lab, health officials have come to rely on
wastewater testing to determine infection levels in their
communities.
Everyone has heard about the water crises in cities like Flint,
Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, but America’s rural
communities are facing equally dire problems with toxic taps
and outdated infrastructure, and they typically have even less
to spend on fixes. That may change soon. In addition to the
historic water funding included in recent infrastructure bills,
the farm bill that is currently being negotiated in Congress
could support real progress in small towns across the country,
thanks to the billions it includes for construction of rural
water and sewer systems. We know firsthand what a huge impact
those dollars can make on the ground. In California, people in
an estimated 300 communities can’t drink from the tap. -Written by Michael Prado, President of Sultana
Community Services District; and Celina
Mahabir, Federal Policy Advocate with Community Water
Center.
People living in Hispanic and Black communities in the U.S. are
disproportionately exposed to toxic “forever chemicals”
pollution in drinking water systems, according to a new public
study published in the journal Environmental Science &
Technology on Monday. Why it matters: The study contributes to
previous research showing that people of color and low-income
communities are excessively affected by other forms of
pollution, too, including fine air particulate, lead and other
drinking water contaminants. Driving the news: In March, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed drinking water
regulations on six compounds of a family of over 12,000 types
of chemicals collectively called per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS).
Turlock will begin chlorination treatment of its drinking water
next week. A city news release Wednesday said the chlorination
program to improve water quality will begin May 17. Staff said
the city is not treating the water for any contaminants but is
raising the water quality to state-mandated levels.
Chlorination of municipal drinking water is not unusual. It
prevents the growth of harmful bacteria, viruses and other
microorganisms. The announcement also included important
information for kidney dialysis patients and some pet owners.
With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the
last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide
companies. … During the so-called “Green Revolution” (circa
1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of
fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides.
… In the U.S., EPA has proposed new limits to PFAS
levels in drinking water, and not a minute too soon; PFAS
have been found in water supplies in nearly 3,000
locations in all 50 states and two territories. PFAS
chemicals have been found in human breast milk, umbilical
cord blood, deer meat, fish, and beef. They are found in
pesticides.
Our Headwaters
Tour on June 21-22 returns in person for the
first time in four years and seats are filling up
quickly! Don’t miss your chance to venture from the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada to Lake Tahoe to examine
water issues happening upstream that can dramatically affect
communities downstream and throughout the state. The quality
and availability of drinking water for millions of Californians
depend on the health of Sierra forests that have been ravaged
by a series of historically destructive wildfires and a series
of multi-year droughts despite an epic snowpack this year. In
all, 30 percent of the state’s developed water supply
originates high in the Sierra.
This winter was one for the books. With record-breaking low
temperatures and a stream of atmospheric rivers, snow came to
parts of California that rarely see it. That added up to a huge
amount of snowfall for the Sierra Nevada mountains, where much
of the Bay Area’s drinking water comes from. Now, as all that
snow melts and makes its way downhill, flooding is a major
concern. But another concern has to do with what that snowmelt
is bringing with it. We sent KALW environment reporter Joshua
Sirotiak up to the mountains to find out what researchers are
looking for in our drinking water.
A federal court on Tuesday tossed out a decision from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to regulate a
chemical used in rocket fuel in drinking water. The Trump
administration decided in 2020 not to regulate a chemical
called perchlorate that can interfere with thyroid function and
may harm fetal brain development. The Biden administration
upheld that decision last year. But, a federal appeals
court in Washington, D.C., reversed the decision on
Tuesday. The opinion of the three-judge panel, authored by
David Sentelle — a Reagan administration appointee — argued
that the Safe Drinking Water Act did not give the EPA the
authority to reverse a 2011 decision in favor of issuing
drinking water standards for perchlorate.
About 45 minutes west of Albuquerque, N.M., past miles of
desert and a remote casino, is the turn off for To’Hajiilee, a
non-contiguous part of the Navajo Nation. About 2,000 people
live here and none of them have indoor access to good drinking
water. … While To’Hajiilee’s isolation from the
rest of the Navajo Nation makes it somewhat unique, its lack of
access to clean drinking water is common across the sprawling
reservation that stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico,
and Utah. Those living on the Navajo Nation are 67
times more likely to not have running water or a toilet
than other Americans, according to the U.S. Water Alliance.
It’s evident here that, as a 2021 national report by the
alliance and DigDeep found, “race is the strongest predictor of
water and sanitation access.”
Some of the United States’ most widely used food pesticides are
contaminated with “potentially dangerous” levels of toxic PFAS
“forever chemicals”, new testing of the products finds. The
Environmental Protection Agency has previously been silent on
PFAS in food pesticides, even as it found the chemicals in
non-food crop products. The potential for millions of acres of
contaminated food cropland demands swifter and stronger
regulatory action, the paper’s authors say. … The groups
last Monday submitted the test results to the EPA and
the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, asking
them to remove these products from use until contamination can
be addressed.
This week is Drinking Water Week, but not everyone in America
has the same access to safe, reliable running water, or a
system for removing and treating wastewater when flushing
toilets. Rural communities and communities of color are more at
risk of unsafe water and inadequate sanitation due to
historical disinvestment, regulatory failures, and structural
racism. This is the rural water gap, and while new federal
funding is meant to address this gap, a study released
today demonstrates that federal agencies need clearer
metrics and milestones to ensure they reach the communities
that need it most. Doing so would contribute to the Biden
Administration’s commitment to Justice40 and environmental
justice for all.
Widely used insecticides and pesticides in California, US,
contain high levels of chemicals that are contaminating
millions of acres of farmland, according to the Center for
Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
are used most abundantly in California’s Central Valley on
crops such as almonds, grapes, peaches and
pistachios. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because
they “do not break down in the environment” and are associated
with immune system suppression, liver damage, thyroid disease,
reduced fertility, high cholesterol, obesity and cancer,
according to the study’s authors.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
proposed federal baseline water quality standards for
waterbodies on Indian reservations that do not have Clean Water
Act standards, ensuring protections for over half a million
people living on Indian reservations as well as critical
aquatic ecosystems. Fifty years ago, Congress established a
goal in the Clean Water Act (CWA) that waters should support
fishing and swimming wherever attainable. All states and 47
Tribes have established standards consistent with that goal.
However, the majority of U.S. Tribes with Indian reservations
lack such water quality standards. This proposal would extend
the same framework of water quality protection that currently
exists for most other waters of the United States to waters of
over 250 Tribes and is the result of decades of coordination
and partnership with Tribes.
The California State Water Resources Control board has released
its third annual Drinking Water Needs Assessment, which
describes the overall health of the state’s water systems and
domestic wells and helps direct the funding and regulatory work
of the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience
(SAFER) drinking water program. The report for the first time
examines the causes behind chronically failing water systems
and incorporates community-level socioeconomic factors,
including customers’ ability to pay, into its analysis of the
risks systems face. The analysis and findings will guide where
the State Water Board focuses its technical assistance and how
it prioritizes funding in the 2023-2024 Fund Expenditure Plan,
due to come before the board this fall.
In 2022, California took a bold step to address plastic
pollution by enacting the Plastic Pollution Prevention and
Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (Senate Bill (SB) 54),
which dramatically overhauls how single-use packaging and
single-use plastic foodware will be offered for sale, sold,
distributed, and imported in the state, and tackles plastic
pollution at the source. The problem with plastic An
estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the marine
environment each year with devastating consequences for the
ocean ecosystem. Everywhere we look, we find plastic; it is in
our land, water, air, food, and even in our bodies. And the
problem is expected to get worse as the production and use of
single-use plastic has skyrocketed over the last decade.
Bloomberg recently published a story (“Groundwater Gold Rush”)
reporting on how Wall Street banks, pension funds, and insurers
have been plowing money into buying land in California, reaping
enormous corporate profits by converting rangeland into almonds
and other permanent crops while draining California’s
groundwater and drying up community drinking water wells.
I’d like to tell the rest of the story about how Wall Street
interests formed the Triangle T Water District, because to my
mind the Triangle T Water District highlights the absurdities
and inequities of California water policy – including the fact
that instead of paying to fix the damage they caused through
unsustainable groundwater pumping, state and federal agencies
have provided millions of dollars of taxpayers monies to
subsidize corporate profits.
Fort Bragg is embarking on an innovative pilot project to
desalt ocean water for the Mendocino Coast community using
carbon-free wave action to power an energy-intensive process
that in other cases generates climate changing greenhouse
gases. The design comes from a young Quebec-based company
called Oneka Technologies that makes floating, raft-like units
containing the equipment needed to draw in water, pressurize
and force it through reverse-osmosis membranes, then send it
back to shore in a flexible pipe on the ocean floor. Fort Bragg
will start with a single, 16-foot by 26-foot unit, anchored
about a mile off shore of the Noyo Headlands, Public Works
Director John Smith said. It could be deployed in perhaps six
or eight months, once a variety of tests are completed to
determine the best location for it.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and a gaggle of water
officials gathered in the northwest corner of Yosemite National
Park on Tuesday to celebrate the centennial of the creation of
the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the O’Shaughnessy Dam. … The
water system, San Francisco’s main water source, provided a
stable supply of pristine Sierra Nevada snowmelt for city
residents through most of the 20th century. But as human-caused
climate change worsens, some water experts say the stability of
San Francisco’s mountain tap is losing its surety for the 21st
century and beyond. “I no longer think it will be a reliable
water system,” said Samuel Sandoval Solis, an expert in water
management at UC Davis. … The water passes over three
faultlines and is used for about 85% of the water needs for 2.7
million people in San Francisco and parts of Santa Clara, San
Mateo and Alameda counties.
Over the last four decades, global water use has increased by
about 1 percent per year. This rise is driven by many factors,
including population growth, changing consumption patterns, and
socioeconomic development. By 2050, the United Nations Water
estimates urban water demand to increase by 80 percent. As
freshwater needs continue to rise in cities, the sustainable
management of urban water supply becomes even more critical.
… In general, Zuniga-Teran says the reasons for urban
water crises are, to an extent, caused by “a consequence of
uncontrolled urban growth and the unsustainable use of water
resources.”
A new study published in the journal Environmental Science &
Technology estimates that thousands of private well users in
the Central Valley could be extracting contaminated water. The
study estimates a 0.7 percent chance users of a domestic well
in the Tulare Lake hydrologic region, which includes Hanford,
would draw water above the Environmental Protection Agency’s
secondary maximum contaminant level for manganese.
According to Samantha Ying, principal investigator of the study
and assistant professor of Soil Biochemistry at the University
of California Riverside, manganese, a mineral naturally found
in groundwater, can have serious effects on health. This is
particularly true for babies and children.
California’s most-used insecticide, along with two other
pesticides, is contaminated with potentially dangerous levels
of PFAS “forever chemicals,” according to test results released
today by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Intrepid 2F is the
most widely applied insecticide product in the state of
California and the second most widely used pesticide product in
the state, behind only Roundup. In 2021, the most recent year
data are available, more than 1.7 million pounds of it were
applied to over 1.3 million cumulative acres of California
land. Use is highest in the Central Valley on crops such as
almonds, grapes, peaches and pistachios.
Few chemicals have attracted as intense public and regulatory
scrutiny as PFAS, but even as the highly toxic and ubiquitous
compounds’ dangers come into sharper focus, industry influence
has crippled congressional attempts to pass meaningful consumer
protections. Federal bills designed to address some of the most
significant sources of exposure – food packaging, cosmetics,
personal care products, clothing, textiles, cookware and
firefighting foam – have all failed in recent
sessions. However, a patchwork of state laws enacted over
the last three years is generating fresh hope by prohibiting
the use of PFAS in those and other uses.
As expected, California American Water Co. is flatly refusing
to consider the offer public water officials made to buy out
the company’s Monterey Peninsula’s water system, saying the
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District has no legal
authority to do so. The water district believes it does. …
The district said their attempt is neither reckless nor
infeasible, rather it is mandated by Measure J that directed
the district to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of
a public takeover of Cal Am’s system. Cal Am insists
Measure J only required the district to conduct a study, not
move forward with a takeover.
A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel ruled Friday there isn’t enough
evidence to support a $48 million award for the city of Pomona,
California, in its lawsuit against a Chilean fertilizer
manufacturer that polluted the city’s drinking water system
decades ago. The lawsuit against brought against
SQM North America, the U.S. subsidiary of Sociedad Química y
Minera de Chile found that the company’s sodium nitrate
fertilizer used in citrus orchards around Pomona between the
1930s and 50s polluted the city’s drinking water system,
including with a contaminant called perchlorate. Perchlorate
interferes with the production of thyroid hormones, an
important part of the development and function of tissues in
the body, and can cause serious health issues, especially in
developing fetuses, kids, and pregnant women.
The State Water Resources Control Board released its third
annual Drinking Water Needs Assessment, which describes the
overall health of the state’s water systems and domestic wells
and helps direct the funding and regulatory work of the Safe
and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER)
drinking water program. The report for the first time examines
the causes behind chronically failing water systems and
incorporates community level socioeconomic factors, including
customers’ ability to pay, into its analysis of the risks
systems face.
Despite the rain-soaked year California has had, the ongoing
issues of drought and limited water remain. Bloomberg reporters
Peter Waldman, Mark Chediak, and Sinduja Rangarajan join this
episode to talk about how farms that grow lucrative cash crops
like almonds and pistachios are digging deeper and deeper wells
to tap the state’s dwindling groundwater supply–leaving people
in some communities with less to drink.
A railway project in Eastern Utah is drawing significant
pushback in Colorado as elected officials voice concerns about
crude oil risks to the Colorado River, which is the West’s
primary freshwater river. The Uinta Basin Railway project
would build around 80 miles of train tracks connecting oil
production to America’s rail network. That would allow
producers to ship crude oil on trains through Colorado to
refineries elsewhere in the country. The U.S. Surface
Transportation Board and the United States Department of
Agriculture have given the project the go-ahead, prompting a
letter from U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse
criticizing the federal review of the project.
It’s a good thing for California American Water Co. that rate
increases aren’t determined by a popularity contest, otherwise
state regulators on Tuesday would have sent the Monterey
Peninsula water purveyor packing. Members of the California
Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, held a two-part hearing
at Seaside City Hall Tuesday afternoon and evening to solicit
public viewpoints on an application – called a rate case —
filed by Cal Am to increase water rates over a three-year
period beginning next year. The CPUC got an earful. All but two
of the 17 speakers who testified to the CPUC representatives
were highly critical of Cal Am. One of two who did not lodge
complaints said there was plenty of water in the Carmel River
aquifer, which wasn’t the focus of the hearing.
The USGS report, commissioned by the Lahontan Regional Water
Quality Control Board, showed how the valley’s geology affected
background hexavalent chromium concentrations in groundwater.
Hexavalent chromium occurs naturally in groundwater in the
Mojave Desert. Concentrations increased in Hinkley Valley
beginning in 1952 when the Pacific Gas and Electric Company
discharged it into unlined ponds. From there, hexavalent
chromium entered the aquifer. Once in the ground, a plume of
hexavalent chromium traveled with groundwater away from the
Hinkley compressor station into Hinkley Valley.
California American Water is once again getting public
backlash—this time over a proposed plan to increase everyone’s
water bill. Every three years, Cal Am has to submit a rate plan
to the California Public Utilities Commission, who’s currently
in the midst of reviewing the proposal and receiving public
feedback. On Tuesday, the commission held a meeting in
Seaside to hear from Monterey County customers as it considers
Cal Am’s proposal to increase revenue by over $55 million
statewide over the next three years, and thereby, increase the
bill for ratepayers. In Monterey County, the proposed revenue
increase is about $10 million. But starting January 2024,
Cal Am says the average water bill could actually decrease.
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 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.
