Nitrate—the oxidized form of dissolved nitrogen— is the main
source of nitrogen for plants. It occurs naturally in soil and
dissipates when the soil is extensively farmed. Thus, nitrogen
fertilizers are applied to replenish the soil. However, these
nitrates can be toxic, especially when they enter the food chain
via groundwater and surface water.
In just the past month, as California temperatures soared
during a drought so severe some experts say it hasn’t been this
parched in 1,200 years, about 250 wells, mostly in the state’s
bread basket, have gone dry. They’re part of the more than
1,100 California wells that have dried up so far this year, a
60% increase from 2021. While that may not seem like a lot,
given that California has 274,000 wells, it’s an ominous sign
and a personal tragedy for the one million Californians who
struggle for clean water. In many cases, it also pits hugely
important agricultural producers, who rely on underground water
for their crops, against their own workers, who need it to
drink.
Like a growing number of Central Californians, [Jesús] Benítez
is bearing the brunt of the state’s punishing drought, which is
evaporating the state’s surface water even as a frenzy of well
drilling saps precious reserves underground. As a result,
the number of dry wells in California has increased 70%
since last year, while the number of Californians living with
contaminated drinking water is at nearly 1 million. The
majority of those people live in low-income communities and
communities of color, state data show — and experts say heat,
drought and climate change are only making those inequities
worse.
New funding from the California Department of Water Resources
promises to help a struggling Tulare County town clean up its
water and turn on its taps. Tooleville, a rural community of
about 200 people at the base of the Sierra Nevada, has only
intermittently had water since its second well recently failed
– the latest victim of California’s intensifying megadrought.
… Even when the well produces water, it’s often contaminated
with unsafe levels of nitrates, a byproduct of nearby
agriculture cultivation that can reduce oxygen levels in the
blood.
As the latest IPCC report warned, it is ‘now or never’ to limit
global warming below 1.5C. Countries around the world are
already bearing the brunt of climate change but the reality is
that, unless we reverse this trend, the effects that we are
going to experience in the near future are going to be
significantly more devastating. … Here are the top
environmental issues in North America and what the government
is doing to tackle them. … A report released
in August 2022 by California’s State Water Resources Control
Board found that in the Western state alone, nearly one
million people face possible long-term health
conditions from drinking water containing unsafe levels of
contaminants such as arsenic and nitrate.
When Martha Lorenzo was told she could get clean drinking water
simply by installing some panels and extracting moisture from
the air, she was in disbelief. In April, Lorenzo had three
solar, hydro panels installed outside her home by the company
Source Global, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The panels absorb
water vapor pulled from the air. Connected to a line under
a panel and run into her home, she gets about nine to 11
gallons of drinking water every day. … The water comes
from a number of sources including humidity from plants and
trees and much more on rainy or foggy days.
Off an unmarked dead-end road surrounded by farmworkers
harvesting strawberries just north of Moss Landing on Thursday,
Ignacio Garcia stood on his cement driveway near a dozen or so
five-gallon plastic bottles of water. The water is needed, he
explained, because his own well is contaminated. … Garcia,
who has become an advocate for his community, is far from
alone. When the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board began testing wells in the area in 2018, groundwater
contamination was bad enough to warrant periodic testing of
44,000 wells in the region. Back in 2014, of 1,627 domestic
wells tested in some areas, more than 40% exceeded public
health drinking water standards for one particular contaminant
– nitrate.
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.”
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.
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.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
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.
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.
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.
Nitrate—the oxidized form of dissolved nitrogen— is the main
source of nitrogen for plants. It occurs naturally in soil and
dissipates when the soil is extensively farmed. Thus, nirtrogen
fertilizers are applied to replenish the soil. However, these
nitrates can be toxic, especially when they enter the food chain
via groundwater and surface water.
In California, the State Water Resources Control Board lists
nitrate as one of California’s most challenging and growing water
problems.
California boasts some of the finest quality drinking water on
the planet. Every day, people turn on their tap and receive
clean, safe water with nary a thought. But the water people take
for granted isn’t so reliable for residents of small water
systems and many disadvantaged communities (DACs) in rural
agricultural areas.
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.
