More than 1 million Californians are affected by unsafe or
unreliable sources of water for cooking, drinking and bathing.
They can lose access to water supplies when their wells run dry,
especially during drought when groundwater is relied on more
heavily and the water table drops. Employment disruptions caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic can impair their ability to pay water
bills on time. Communities of color are most often burdened by
these challenges.
Below you’ll find the latest news articles raising
awareness on efforts to seek water equity written by the staff at
the Water Education Foundation and other organizations that were
posted in our Aquafornia news aggregate.
In 2022, Ashok Gadgil conducted the first field trial of a
water-treatment system for the 600 or so residents of
Allensworth, California, who have been battling arsenic
contamination for some time. The system is a more efficient
iteration of technology that Gadgil and his team installed in
India in 2016 to provide rural and marginalized communities
with access to safe drinking water at low cost1. Like many
small rural communities, Allensworth — a historically Black
town with a majority Latinx population today — has no access to
high-quality surface-water treatment facilities that are common
in urban areas. Instead, these communities often use wells,
which are at high risk of contamination with arsenic and other
toxic substances.
Fresh carrots are an expanding $1.4 billion U.S. market, and
Americans are expected to consume 100 million pounds this
Thanksgiving — roughly five ounces for every human being in the
country. At least 60% of those carrots are produced by just two
companies, Bolthouse and Grimmway, both of which were acquired
by buyout firms, in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
… Cartels are less funny for neighbors of the two
producers in Southern California’s Cuyama Valley, who are
calling for a boycott of Big Carrot over the amount of water
their farms are sucking out of the ground. In 2022,
Bolthouse and Grimmway together were responsible for 67%, or
9.6 billion gallons, of the area’s total water use. Local
residents said they expect their wells to dry up if the carrot
farms continue to use as much water as they do …
“If I had a chance to tell Gov. (Gavin) Newsom something about
the pollution in the Tijuana River Valley, I would tell him to
get it fixed as soon as possible because the odor is horrible,
and I don’t know what else it’s doing to our health. Like my
partner says, if this was happening to rich people in La Jolla,
this would have been taken care of a long time ago.” That’s
what Analisa Corrales, a nine-year resident of the Nestor
neighborhood in San Diego, told me when I asked how she felt
about the pollution from the Tijuana River Valley and how
aerosolized contaminants might be affecting the health of her
and her three children. They are 12 years old, 7 years old
and 6 months old, and they live less than 2 miles from the
sewage-choked river. -Written by Pedro Rios, director of the American
Friends Service Committee’s U.S./Mexico Border program and a
longtime human rights advocate.
Merced and Monterey counties got $20 million each from the
state in October to help the residents of Planada and Pajaro
recover from January floods. But local officials want to
spend at least some of the money on infrastructure, while
residents want all of the money to help relieve debt they’ve
incurred from the natural disaster. That is, after all, what
state lawmakers ostensibly sent the money for. Days of
rain led to a flood of local canals and creeks in the area on
Jan. 9, forcing the complete evacuation of the majority-Latino
community of Planada, population almost 4,000.
When Racha Mousdikoudine opens her kitchen faucet, she never
knows what will happen. “Maybe I won’t get any water at all,”
she told CNN. … For the last four months, Mousdikoudine and
her two children have had little or no running water in their
home on the French territory of Mayotte, and island of around
310,000 people in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of
Africa, between Mozambique and the island of
Madagascar. Mayotte is facing an unprecedented water
crisis amid one of the worst droughts in its history, as the
impacts of the human-caused climate crisis collide with a
chronic lack of investment in the water system. The island
is grappling with its worst drought since 1997. Its two
water reservoirs have reached a “critical level of decline” –
one is at 7% of capacity and the other at 6%, according to the
most recent estimates, and they are on the verge of drying
up. It has led to drastic water cuts.
The climate-driven shrinking of the
Colorado River is expanding the influence of Native American
tribes over how the river’s flows are divided among cities, farms
and reservations across the Southwest.
The tribes are seeing the value of their largely unused river
water entitlements rise as the Colorado dwindles, and they are
gaining seats they’ve never had at the water bargaining table as
government agencies try to redress a legacy of exclusion.
EARTHseed Farm is unlike its counterparts among Sonoma County’s
rolling vineyards and redwood forests. A hand-painted sign at
the entrance greets visitors with the words, “Welcome Black to
the land.” … The Afrocentricity that radiates across
EARTHseed is meant to make Black visitors in particular feel
welcome … For the farm’s founder, Pandora Thomas,
there’s an even greater purpose. Thomas, a Berkeley-based
naturalist and environmental educator, wants to teach her
fellow Black Californians to use their African American
heritage to usher their communities — and all of humanity —
through the climate crisis.
Hundreds of scientists working for the state of California to
protect water supplies, respond to oil spills, study wildlife
and track foodborne outbreaks marched in Sacramento today in
what’s being called the first-ever strike by state civil
servants. Today was the first day of a three-day
“Defiance for Science” rolling strike by more than 4,000
rank-and-file state scientists, who are seeking to close pay
gaps with their counterparts in local, federal and other parts
of state government. Many of the workers picketing at the
headquarters of the California Environmental Protection Agency
carried signs reminding Californians what they do
behind-the-scenes: “I am a scientist and I give you safe food,”
read one. “No science? No salmon!” Others called for the Newsom
administration to “Smash the sexist gender pay gap!”
African Agriculture Inc., an investment company based in a
ninth-floor Regus co-working space on Park Avenue in New York,
is growing 300 hectares (740 acres) of emerald-green alfalfa
east of Saint-Louis inside a desert nature preserve called the
Ndiael. The farm draws its water from nearby Lake Guiers, which
is fed by a canal from the river. The only freshwater reserve
in Senegal, the lake supplies half the water for Dakar,
Senegal’s capital.
A new institute created by a national Native nonprofit law
group and a foundation that works to protect rivers will
support tribal water rights advocacy, recruit and train the
next generation of tribal water attorneys and provide education
on tribal water law and policies. The Tribal Water Institute
will be housed at the Native American Rights Fund, known as
NARF, a national nonprofit organization that provides legal
assistance to tribal governments, organizations and individuals
in need of legal help on Indigenous law cases. The Walton
Family Foundation committed $1.4 million over the next three
years to support the institute.
Nearly 10 months after floods devastated parts of Planada and
Woodlake, residents in both small towns have banded together,
hired attorneys and are pursuing legal action. More than 250
households are involved between the two towns. Residents
in the Tulare County town of Springville are also working
toward legal action after flooding knocked out wells and
residents suffered prolonged water shortages. The attorney for
Springville residents did not respond to requests for
comment. It’s early stages for the legal battles, which
aren’t technically lawsuits yet for either Woodlake nor
Planada, said Shant Karnikian, partner at Kabateck LLP who is
representing residents in both towns. Karnikian is also
representing residents in the hard hit town of Pajaro on the
central coast.
In the Cuyama Valley north of Santa Barbara, lush green fields
stretch across the desert. Sprinklers spray thousands of acres
to grow a single thirsty crop: carrots. Wells and pumps pull
groundwater from as deep as 680 feet, and the aquifer’s levels
are dropping. As the valley’s only water source shrinks, a
bitter legal battle over water rights has arisen between carrot
growers and the community. Residents are fighting back with a
campaign urging everyone to stop buying carrots. Along the
valley’s roads, in cattle pastures and outside homes and
businesses, signs and banners have sprung up declaring “BOYCOTT
CARROTS” and “STAND WITH CUYAMA AGAINST CORPORATE GREED.”
Martha Lorenz lives in the shade of orchards, living in the
house where she grew up outside of Ceres, California. She
remodeled it in the 1980s. … She’s always gotten her
water from a well. ”I didn’t think anything about it as a
kid, you know, you just go to the sink and get your glass of
water,” Lorenz said. But that all changed two years ago
when she found out her drinking water was contaminated with
nitrate. … Nitrate is odorless and colorless and
can be dangerous. In infants, it can cause “Blue Baby
Syndrome,” which causes low oxygen in the infant’s blood. It
can be fatal. Nitrate can also cause cancer if the level in
water is higher than 10 milligrams per liter. … Nitrate
can come from a number of sources: urban wastewater applied on
the land, septic tanks, farm manure, or fertilizer on golf
courses or crops.
Deadlines are upcoming related to the multi-district per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) litigation. The relevant
settlements are with DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva
(collectively, DuPont) and 3M, parties who allegedly
manufactured various PFAS chemicals. The currently-pending
settlements cover $1.185 billion for DuPont and $10.5-$12.5
billion for 3M. The litigation is focused on alleged
contamination of drinking water caused by DuPont’s and 3M’s
alleged manufacture of PFAS chemicals. PFAS are a family of
manmade chemicals that are used due to beneficial properties
like repelling water.
After this year’s historic storms and devastating floods, the
federal government has been swamped with requests from agencies
across the San Joaquin Valley seeking reimbursement for repair
costs. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
provided SJV Water a data sheet that enumerates more than 460
such requests from six counties, including Fresno, Madera,
Merced, Kern and Tulare. Agencies in Fresno County have made
requests for about $40 million, combined. Most requests are
self-explanatory, such as $1.45 million for debris removal made
on behalf of the Fresno County Parks Department. … But one
request stood out – $1.23 million for “X-Ray Rooms” made on
behalf of “Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center,”
according to the FEMA data sheet.
[The Navajo] way of life is in peril. Climate change,
permitting issues and diminishing interest among younger
generations are leading to a singular reality: Navajo raising
fewer sheep. Keeping hundreds of sheep, of historically prized
Churro and other breeds, used to be the norm for many families
living on a vast reservation that straddles parts of Arizona,
New Mexico and Utah. … A mega drought across the Western
U.S. has sucked moisture from the land, leaving cracks and
barrenness in its wake. The next count of sheep isn’t planned
until 2024, but Navajo Department of Agriculture officials say
the number is lower than the 200,000 counted in 2017. Adding to
the problem is the long-standing issue of water scarcity on
Navajo Nation, where roughly a third of people lack reliable
access to clean water.
[A]t least once a year since 2019, the Smithwick
Mills water system, which serves about 200 residents in
[Texas], has reported high levels of the synthetic chemical
1,2,3-trichloropropane … Water quality tests from the
Smithwick Mills utility have revealed an average TCP level of
410 parts per trillion over the past four years — more than 80
times what would be allowed in California. But the utility
hasn’t taken any action. It doesn’t have to. The chemical isn’t
regulated in drinking water by the EPA or the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality, which means neither agency has ever
set a maximum allowable level of TCP.
Parents gathered at Farallone View Elementary School on
Thursday morning to hear administration plans after the Montara
Water and Sanitary District shut off water service to the
school today due to its public health concerns caused by
construction at the site. For many children at the school, it
was also time to face their first Porta-Potty. Cabrillo Unified
School District officials scrambled to get portable sanitation
stations in place for the school day and to assure some potable
water was in place.
Communities across California are facing extreme water
challenges. Decades of overpumping groundwater coupled with
ongoing drought has led to crises including depleted aquifers,
domestic and shallow wells running dry, issues with groundwater
salinity, and devastating floods. Fairmead, an unincorporated
community in the San Joaquin Valley, faces significant concerns
about its drinking water supply. The Madera Subbasin, in which
the community is located, is categorized as “critically
overdrafted.” Many residents have experienced their wells
drying up, and drilling deeper wells is cost-prohibitive for
most.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last week the
most recent batch of funding to help the federal government
meet its requirement to pay tribal water rights settlements.
Out of the $326.5 million announced for nearly a dozen
settlements and projects, $235.1 million will go to two water
supply projects in New Mexico. The bulk of the money coming
into the state from the Interior Department and the largest
allocation announced is $164 million for the Navajo-Gallup
Water Supply Project. An additional $2 million in separate
funds will also go toward operation and maintenance on the
project.