The water in Imperial Beach could soon be much cleaner. A
legislative package protecting the Tijuana River Watershed was
passed by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee Wednesday.
The two bills address corporate pollution tainting California’s
water supply. Companies responsible for sewage, garbage and
chemicals that are spilling over from south of the border and
contaminating the waters of San Diego could soon be held
accountable by having to pay fines depending on how much waste
they improperly dump.
A generational issue for the families living in San Lucas
continues as they’ve gone decades without drinking water. Soon
federal, state, and local leaders will secure nearly a million
dollars to build a pipeline to King City. Advertisement “The
kids couldn’t even be bathed in the water. That’s how bad it is
that babies are not able to get bathed. That means there’s
something really wrong,” said Fray Marin-Zuniga, a San Lucas
resident. Plants not growing, animals dying, young children
unable to bathe, this is the reality for those living in the
unincorporated South Monterey County town of San Lucas. “Back
when I was in school here, because I graduated from San Lucas
School, the water was yellow,” Martin-Zuniga said.
Martin-Zuniga has lived in San Lucas his entire life, he shows
KSBW the dry skin condition that he’s developed on his arm. He
says as the years go by, the need for clean water has never
wavered.
For more than 15 years, Valley Water has measured mercury
levels in reservoirs and creeks in the Guadalupe River
Watershed and studied ways to reduce the metal’s harmful
impacts. Parts of the Guadalupe River watershed, which covers
about 171 square miles, are contaminated with mercury from the
former New Almaden Mining District. The mining and processing
of mercury occurred in the area from 1845 through 1971. These
operations released large amounts of mercury into parts of the
Guadalupe River watershed, which flows into South San Francisco
Bay. Mercury-enriched sediment from mining waste made its way
into creeks and reservoirs within the watershed. Creeks flowing
in the watershed carry that sediment down the Guadalupe River
to San Francisco Bay, especially during wet years.
Emerald Bay is known for its beauty, with an island castle at
its center, and an underwater state park full of sunken boats.
But that’s not all that lies beneath the water’s surface. Two
defunct, lead-clad telecommunications cables run across the
mouth of the bay and along Tahoe’s southwestern shores. An
ongoing court battle and investigation by the Wall Street
Journal have brought the cables into the public eye. The
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance has sued AT&T
to have the cables removed, while competing studies by AT&T
and WSJ resulted in drastically different findings on whether
the lines pose any risk to the lake and its visitors.
In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled.
By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as
much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the
annual carbon emissions budget. Most of the plastic we make
ends up as waste. As plastic manufacturers increase production,
more and more of it will end up in our landfills, rivers and
oceans. Plastic waste is set to triple by 2060. Producers often
put the onus back on consumers by pointing to recycling schemes
as a solution to plastic pollution. … Our new
research found the relationship is direct – a 1% increase
in plastic production leads to a 1% increase in plastic
pollution, meaning unmanaged waste such as bottles in rivers
and floating plastic in the oceans. -Written by Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher
with CSIRO; Britta Denise Hardesty, Senior Principal
Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO; Katie
Conlon, Researcher at Portland State University;
and Win Cowger, Research Director at the Moore
Institute for Plastic Pollution Research, University of
California, Riverside.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS,
can be found in those items and hundreds of other household
products. the chemicals have made their way into our showers,
sinks and drinking glasses — a 2023 study detected PFAS in
nearly half of the nation’s tap water. … For the first time,
the Environmental Protection Agency is regulating PFAS. This
month, the E.P.A. announced that it would require municipal
water systems to remove six forever chemicals from tap
water. Lisa Friedman, a reporter on the Climate desk at
The New York Times, wrote about the new rules.
Plastic bottles, sports balls, and what look like the wheels
from a toy pram float down the San Pedro River that runs
through Quito, Ecuador. They are on their way towards the
Pacific Ocean, on a downstream journey repeated all over the
world as plastic waste is flushed through rivers into the seas.
However, this particular patch of plastic waste is about to
have its journey cut short. It is brought to a stop by a
floating barrier in the water, part of a local plastic clean-up
technology called the Azure system, which collects plastic from
rivers.
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency designated two
types of “forever chemicals” as hazardous substances under the
federal Superfund law. The move will make it easier for the
government to force the manufacturers of these chemicals,
called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, to shoulder
the costs of cleaning them out of the environment.
… Although the EPA’s new restrictions are
groundbreaking, they only apply to a portion of the nation’s
extensive PFAS contamination problem. That’s because drinking
water isn’t the only way Americans are exposed to PFAS … In
Texas, a group of farmers whose properties were contaminated
with PFAS from fertilizer are claiming the manufacturer should
have done more to warn buyers about the dangers of its
products.
… California has some of the tightest toxic regulations and
strictest air pollution rules for smelters in the country. But
some residents of the suburban neighborhoods around Ecobat
don’t trust the system to protect them. … Uncertainty,
both about the safety of Ecobat’s operation going forward and
the legacy of lead it has left behind, weighs heavily on them.
… Early on, environmental officials flagged reasons for
concern about the lead smelter. State and federal regulators
issued an order and a consent decree in 1987 because of the
facility’s releases of hazardous waste into soil and water. An
assessment from that time found “high potential for air
releases of particulates concerning lead.”
State Sen. Anthony J. Portantino, who represents Pasadena, has
authored a bill mandating the study of microplastics’ health
impacts in drinking water. The Senate Environmental Quality
Committee approved the bill this week. By filing SB
1147, Portantino seeks to emphasize the need for further
research and action in addressing the pervasive presence of
microplastics in various environmental elements.
… The bill’s provisions include a requirement for all
water-bottling plants producing bottled water for sale to
provide an annual report to the State Department of Public
Health’s Food and Drug branch on microplastic levels found in
their source water. This data, as mandated by the bill, aims to
enhance transparency and consumer awareness regarding the
presence of microplastics in bottled water, a product consumed
widely across California.
Palo Alto’s bioreactor towers are aging out, like a lot of the
clean water infrastructure constructed around the Bay Area in
the 1950s-1970s. Recent wind gusts, swirling around the edges
of February’s atmospheric river storms, have not been friendly
to the towers either. On a March visit to the Palo Alto
Regional Water Quality Control Plant, which treats 18 million
gallons of wastewater every day, I could see a big chunk
missing from the wall of one rusty cauldron and tumbleweeds
caught in the metalwork. Elsewhere on the 25-acre site,
the plant’s facilities are visibly undergoing a $193 million
overhaul. The overhaul will help the plant meet increasing
regulatory limits on the amount of nitrogen that dischargers
can pipe into the shallows of San Francisco Bay.
A federal judge denied summary judgment to a California
nonprofit that accuses a solid waste facility in Butte County
of allowing contaminants to seep out of its facility and into a
wetland preserve that leads to a Sacramento River tributary
during a major rainstorm. Nonprofit California Open Lands
maintains a wetland preserve in Butte County that sits near the
Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility, operated by the Butte
County Department of Public Works.
Plumas County recently commissioned an independent review of
vested mining rights for the Engels-Superior Mines, situated in
the county. Best Best & Krieger LLP (BBK), a prominent law
firm, undertook this investigation, posting its findings in a
detailed memorandum on April 15, 2024. The memorandum addresses
a request by California-Engels Mining Company (owner) and US
Copper Corp (applicant). This request pertains to the Engels
Mine and Superior Mine located in Indian Valley on the Feather
River watershed. The memorandum, accessible on the Plumas
County Zoning Administrator website, illuminates the historical
context and legal intricacies surrounding the mining
operations. It discusses five determinations sought by the
applicant, including the mining history, vesting date, extent
of mining, continuity of mining rights, and intent to continue
mining.
Rosana Monge clutched her husband’s death certificate and an
envelope of his medical records as she approached the
microphone and faced members of the water utility board on a
recent Monday in this city in southeast New Mexico. “I
have proof here of arsenic tests — positive on him, that were
done by the Veterans Administration,” she testified about
her husband, whose 2023 records show he had been diagnosed with
“exposure to arsenic” before his death in February at age 79.
“What I’m asking is for a health assessment of the community.”
… Naturally occurring in the soil in New Mexico, arsenic
seeps into the groundwater used for drinking. In water, arsenic
has no taste, odor or color — but can be removed with
treatment. Over time, it can cause a variety of health
problems, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease,
endangering the lives of people in this low-income and
overwhelmingly Latino community.
Nutrient (nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P] chemistry)
downgradient from onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS) was
evaluated with a groundwater study in the area surrounding
Elizabeth Lake, the largest of three sag lakes within the Santa
Clara River watershed of Los Angeles County, California.
Elizabeth Lake is listed on the “303 (d) Impaired Waters List”
for excess nutrients and is downgradient from more than 600
OWTS. The primary objective of this study was to develop a
conceptual hydrogeological model to determine if discharge from
OWTS is transported into shallow groundwater within the
Elizabeth Lake subwatershed and contributes nutrients to
Elizabeth Lake in excess of the total maximum daily load
limit.
The Wonderful Company, California-based maker of the popular
pomegranate juice POM, is the state’s second-largest user of
paraquat – a toxic herbicide banned in over 60 countries – a
new Environmental Working Group investigation finds.
Studies have found a strong connection between paraquat
exposure and an elevated risk of Parkinson’s disease. The
chemical has also been linked with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and
childhood leukemia. … Wonderful’s brands include POM
pomegranate juice, Landmark Vineyards wine and Fiji Water,
among many others. In 2021 alone, Wonderful sprayed more
than 56,000 pounds of paraquat on California fields where it
grows pistachios, almonds and pomegranates, according to state
and county records analyzed by EWG. … The herbicide can
remain in soil for years.
In an effort to protect more than 5 million Californians from a
cancer-causing contaminant, state regulators today set a new
standard that is expected to increase the cost of water for
many people throughout the state. The State Water Resources
Control Board unanimously approved the nation’s first drinking
water standard for hexavalent chromium, which is found
naturally in some California groundwater as well as water
contaminated by industries. Now water suppliers will be forced
to install costly treatment to limit the chemical in water to
no more than 10 parts per billion — equivalent to about 10
drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The troubled Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic received a new
violation last week from a state water agency for pumping
untreated leachate water from the landfill into local waterways
that empty into the Santa Clara River. A violation letter dated
April 9 was sent to the landfill operators by the Los Angeles
Regional Water Quality Control Board, raising concerns that the
landfill’s wastewater may reach groundwater sources fed by the
river and used for drinking water.
A new lawsuit filed by public drinking water systems in
California against manufacturers of toxic “forever chemicals”
is among the first to cite new Biden administration regulations
that set strict limits for the chemicals in drinking water. The
Orange County Water District and more than a dozen other
California water utilities filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles
federal court on Friday against seven manufacturers of per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, including Dynax America
Corp. and Arkema Inc. The lawsuit accuses the manufacturers of
negligence and of creating a nuisance by contaminating water
with PFAS, and seeks money to remediate that contamination.
The International Boundary and Water Commission is again being
sued over water-quality permit violations that have led to
rampant sewage polluting San Diego County’s southernmost
shoreline. The San Diego Coastkeeper and Coastal Environmental
Rights Foundation on Thursday filed a lawsuit in federal court
against the U.S. arm of the IBWC and its contractor Veolia
Water North America-West, alleging violations of the Clean
Water Act.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [last week] unveiled
the first nationwide limits on dangerous “forever chemicals” in
drinking water, setting standards that will have sweeping,
costly effects throughout California. … In California
alone, traces of the compounds have been detected in water
systems serving more than 25 million people, nearly a third in
disadvantaged communities, according to an analysis by
the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
a proposed settlement with Shasta-Siskiyou Transport of
Redding, Calif. to resolve claims of Clean Water Act (CWA)
violations after one of the company’s trucks overturned and a
fuel product spilled into storm drains in downtown Redding. The
fuel reached the Sacramento River. The proposed settlement
requires Shasta-Siskiyou Transport to pay a civil penalty of
$208,840. … On Jan. 21, 2022, one of Shasta-Siskiyou
Transport’s trucks was transporting transmix, a mixture of
gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum distillates, when
the truck overturned in downtown Redding, releasing transmix
into nearby storm drains, which led directly to Calaboose Creek
and subsequently into the Sacramento River.
The Upper Truckee River Watershed is the largest contributor of
freshwater to Lake Tahoe. … With fewer floodplains, more fine
sediment and nutrients began flowing in, and the lake’s clarity
declined from more than 130 feet in the 1960s to a low point of
60 feet in 2017. … Once a healthy wetland, the property
is paved with asphalt, housing a defunct Motel 6 and a
long-shuttered restaurant. During the next several years,
the buildings will be razed, the asphalt removed and the
wetland restored, connecting 560 acres of the Upper Truckee
Marsh on the shores of Lake Tahoe to 206-acre Johnson Meadow
across Highway 50 to the south. It’s all part of a bigger
effort to restore the lake’s clarity by reclaiming habitat
around the 9 miles of the river closest to Lake Tahoe, an area
that has seen heavy development.
… the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [on
Wednesday] announced the final National Primary Drinking Water
Regulation establishing the first national legally enforceable
drinking water standards … for six per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as
“forever chemicals” …. actions required for public water
systems under the final rule are likely going to require
significant investment of money, time, and human effort.
As the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities
continue to increase the levels of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, the ocean is absorbing a large portion of the CO2,
which is making seawater more acidic. … And here’s one
important fact about ocean acidification: It’s not happening at
the same rate everywhere. The California coast is one of the
regions of the world where ocean acidification
is occurring the fastest. … In particular, effluent
discharged from coastal sewage treatment plants, which has high
nitrogen levels from human waste, has been shown to
significantly contribute to ocean acidification off the
Southern California coast.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced
the first federal limits on PFAS — manmade “forever
chemicals” linked to cancer, organ damage and other health
issues — in the nation’s drinking water. The regulation,
which was initially proposed in 2023, requires water systems to
reduce levels of six of the most studied types of PFAS to
the lowest levels that can be reliably measured with
testing. … The Bay Area’s drinking water generally
has low levels of PFAS because large water systems in the
region get most of their drinking water from pristine sources
in the Sierra or local reservoirs in regional parks, according
to researchers who study toxic chemicals in drinking water. The
city of San Francisco, for instance, gets most of its water
from Hetch Hetchy, a reservoir north of Yosemite Valley.
After being sanctioned by federal regulators for plowing up
protected wetlands on his California farm, a U.S. lawmaker is
now spearheading an effort to roll back federal water
protections — including the very same provisions that he once
paid penalties for violating. If the scheme is successful,
environmental groups say industrial polluters could more freely
contaminate wetlands, rivers, and other waters, harming both
the nation’s water resources and the communities depending on
them. It could also benefit the lawmaker spearheading the
attack, since he still owns the farm where he was found to be
destroying wetlands.
They’re in makeup, dental floss and menstrual products. They’re
in nonstick pans and takeout food wrappers. Same with rain
jackets and firefighting equipment, as well as pesticides and
artificial turf on sports fields. They’re PFAS: a class of
man-made chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
They are also called “forever chemicals” because the bonds in
their chemical compounds are so strong they don’t break down
for hundreds to thousands of years, if at all. They’re also in
our water. A new study of more than 45,000 water samples
around the world found that about 31 percent of groundwater
samples tested that weren’t near any obvious source of
contamination had PFAS levels considered harmful to human
health by the Environmental Protection Agency.
New California legislation seeks to permanently ban paraquat, a
powerful and widely used weedkiller that has been linked to
Parkinson’s disease and other serious health issues. Assembly
Bill 1963, introduced recently by Assemblymember Laura Friedman
(D-Glendale), would sunset the use of paraquat beginning in
January 2026. The herbicide, which is described by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency as highly toxic, is regularly
sprayed on almonds, grapes, cotton and other crops in the
state. … California is the nation’s top user of paraquat
…
Nearly half of US prisons draw water from sources likely
contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, new research
finds. At least around 1m people incarcerated in the US,
including 13,000 juveniles, are estimated to be housed in the
prisons, and they are especially vulnerable to the dangerous
chemicals because there is little they can do to protect
themselves, said Nicholas Shapiro, a study co-author at the
University of California in Los Angeles.
Microplastics are tiny, nearly indestructible fragments shed
from everyday plastic products. As we learn more about
microplastics, the news keeps getting worse. Already
well-documented in our oceans and soil, we’re now discovering
them in the unlikeliest of places: our arteries, lungs, and
even placentas. Microplastics can take anywhere from 100 to
1,000 years to break down and, in the meantime, our planet and
bodies are becoming more polluted with these materials every
day. Finding viable alternatives to traditional
petroleum-based plastics and microplastics has never been more
important. New research from scientists at the University of
California San Diego and materials science company Algenesis
shows that their plant-based polymers biodegrade — even at the
microplastic level — in under seven months.
Think “Sonoma County farm,” and most people will conjure an
image of docile cows chewing cud or chickens scratching the
dirt, idly whiling away their days among the grassy, green
hills of this mostly rural, coastal Northern California county.
But animal rights activists say all is not right in this region
known for its wine and farm-to-fork sensibilities. They say
there are two dozen large, concentrated animal farming
operations — which collectively house almost 3 million animals
— befouling watersheds and torturing livestock and poultry in
confined lots and cages. And in an effort to stop it, they’ve
collected more than 37,000 signatures from Sonoma County
residents to put an end to it — forcing the county Board of
Supervisors to either enact or match the ordinance themselves,
or have it kicked over to the November ballot.
In late March the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors
proclaimed a local emergency related to concerns about heavy
metals like arsenic and lead being present in the Klamath
River. It was prompted by the ongoing removal of four
hydroelectric dams on the river. … Matt St. John, an
environmental program manager with the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board, said it was expected that you’d
also have high metals concentrations. “Those metals
concentrations are not a threat to public health. It’s okay to
touch the water with those type of concentrations. And no water
in the state of California should be drunk without any without
treatment. And so, the Klamath River isn’t a source of drinking
water without treatment of that water.”
In an April 1, 2024 letter to three water boards, fishing and
conservation groups and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe urged
regulators to control recently measured excess levels of
selenium in Mud Slough. Mud Slough drains selenium-impaired
land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley into the San
Joaquin River and ultimately San Francisco Bay.
… Selenium has long been known to cause
reproductive failure, deformities, and death in fish and
waterfowl, according to a statement from the California
Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA). “Our groups have
spent over a decade at the water boards and in court trying to
bring runoff from Mud Slough into compliance with water quality
standards,” said Chris Shutes, Executive Director of the
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
The Sacramento County district attorney’s office has sued a
state agency alleging that storage tanks are leaking hazardous
substances under several downtown buildings, including the
state Capitol. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Sacramento
Superior Court against the California Department of General
Services, alleges the leakages are also happening in Oakland.
It was filed jointly by Sacramento County District Attorney
Thien Ho and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. The
district attorneys filed the lawsuit “to protect public health
and the environment from harm due to releases of hazardous
substances from leaking Underground Storage Tanks, including
harm to groundwater and surface waters and against harm from
indoor air impacts,” the lawsuit stated.
For most Northern Nevadans and Californians, Lake Tahoe is more
than a distinctive spot on the map. Whether you only go a few
times a year or every single weekend, it always feels like your
refuge. You never take it for granted. Neither do the
scientists, planners, biologists, volunteers, lawmakers and
engineers who work to protect the lake from environmental
threats. In fact, the call to protect Lake Tahoe has echoed
across America in support of one of the most comprehensive and
successful conservation programs in the nation. Since public
and private partners established the Lake Tahoe Environmental
Improvement Program in 1997, we have completed more than 800
major restoration projects to protect one of our country’s most
treasured landscapes. -Written by Julie Regan, executive director of the
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Chemical manufacturer 3M will begin payments starting in the
third quarter to many U.S. public drinking water systems as
part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement over contamination
with potentially harmful compounds used in firefighting foam
and several consumer products, the company said. St. Paul,
Minnesota-based 3M announced Monday that last year’s lawsuit
settlement received final approval from the U.S. District Court
in Charleston, South Carolina. The agreement called for payouts
through 2036. Depending on what additional contamination is
found, the amount paid out will range from $10.5 billion to
$12.5 billion.
The San Luis Valley Groundwater Basin stretches from San Luis
Obispo to Edna Valley — but a toxic chemical swirling in the
water prevents the city from using the resource for drinking
water. That will soon change, however. San Luis Obispo won a
$6.6-million grant to install wells that remove
tetrachloroethylene, a chemical also known as PCE, from the
groundwater, according to city water resources program manager
Nick Teague. The wells should be operational by 2026 and will
allow the city to fulfill about 12% of its drinking water
needs, he said.
Years ago, in a moment of despair over the utter dead-end that
solving the Tijuana River sewage crisis seemed to be, I asked
U.S. officials why we don’t just cross the border and start
fixing broken pipes in Mexico. Nations can’t just cross
each other’s borders like that, MacKenzie, the kindly federal
official told me. At least, they shouldn’t. It would be a rude
mistake. Mexico could consider such federal intrusion without
permission as an act of war. But President Joe Biden’s pick to
rein in cross-border sewage spills has found a way to leverage
her relationships with Mexico to encourage more collaborative
U.S. involvement. Maria-Elena Giner announced to reporters
during a press conference last week that the International
Boundary and Water Commission (the binational agency that deals
with cross-border water issues) will start monthly inspections
of a key sewage pump and trash shredder in Tijuana that feeds
wastewater into San Diego for treatment. -Written by MacKenzie Elmer, Voice of San Diego
reporter.
Tahoe community organizations ranging from business
associations to nonprofits to kayak rental companies have long
been begging the lake’s visitors to be more responsible with
picking up their trash. And now, the results of a two-year
study and monitoring project in Lake Tahoe could
suggest that the messaging may just be working. The
findings come from Clean Up The Lake’s two-year
project that sent scuba divers to clean up trash in 30 “litter
hot spots” between 0 and 25 feet deep along Lake
Tahoe’s shoreline. Hot spots were areas of
heavier-than-normal trash, identified via diver observations
and garbage data. The first sweep was finished in July
2021, and the second was completed in fall 2023. The study
found a significant decrease in litter over the two-year period
on the Nevada side of the lake
(the California areas have not yet been analyzed).
Marin County and Novato are disputing a state water board’s
contention that they are doing too little to prevent the
discharge of fecal bacteria into the Petaluma River. The San
Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board notified both the
county and Novato in January that they are out of compliance
with a program that it adopted in 2019 to reduce the level of
fecal bacteria in the river. Both jurisdictions, however,
contend that they are not required to comply with the program
because the scheme has not yet been incorporated into their
municipal storm sewer system permits, which are issued by the
State Water Resources Control Board.
As mining operations ramp up across Arizona, two massive
projects facing opposition from environmental groups and Native
American tribes have public comment deadlines in the coming
weeks. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is
accepting comments on the proposed Resolution Copper project
near Superior through April 7 and for the Copper World project
in the Santa Rita Mountains, about 30 miles south of Tucson,
through April 10. … Oak Flat sits over one of the
largest remaining copper deposits in the world. The mine would
sink more than 7,000 feet into the ground, where temperatures
reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit. It would require large quantities
of water for cooling, dust control to remediation of mine
waste.
Five possible alternatives to the tire antidegradant 6PPD have
been identified, following a comprehensive preliminary analysis
completed by a consortium of 30 tire manufacturers March 25.
…Gatorade, mayonnaise and Fireball bottles, soccer and golf
balls, Nerf bullets, ballpoint pens, hypodermic needles, nasal
sprays—you name it and Carol Shumate, the clean team director
at Russian Riverkeeper, has seen it. Not just here, [in Santa
Rosa Creek], but all over [Sonoma County]. … Despite
calls from environmentalists, legislators and scientists,
plastic has become more prevalent, not less.
[Denise] Moreno Ramírez wasn’t surprised when she heard an
Australian mining company, South32, planned to open a
manganese, zinc, lead and silver operation in the same area
where her family had worked. … But this latest proposed mine
was alarming, she said, because Biden is fast-tracking
it in the name of the energy transition – potentially
compromising the mountain’s delicate ecosystems, many of which
have begun to be restored as mines have shut
down. … A growing network of Arizona residents say
that allowing the mine to proceed as planned could introduce a
grave new layer of environmental injustices.
…Conservationists say they worry that South32 is seeking to
use water irresponsibly amid long-term drought.
Residents at Friendly Acres Mobile Home Park were given bottled
water and warned about possible contamination in their
well during a March meeting organized by the Central Valley
Regional Water Quality Control Board and California’s Division
of Drinking Water. First reported by the Red Bluff Daily News,
the concern stems from alarming levels of per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances. Those man-made chemicals, called
PFAS, are used to make a huge number of modern products like
stain-resistant material, nonstick cookware, food packaging and
waterproof clothing. They’ve also been linked to health impacts
including cancer, liver and thyroid damage.
After another spate of late-spring rain, Los Angeles
County public health officials are warning people to stay
out of the water until at least Wednesday. The Department
of Public Health issued an ocean water quality rain advisory
for all Los Angeles County beaches due to the stormy weather.
… The warning stretches the entire LA coastline.
The California Natural Resources Agency has submitted its 2024
Annual Report on the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to
the State Water Resources Control Board, prepared in compliance
with Order WR 2017-0134. The report provides specific updates
on the SSMP’s activities in 2023 and planning for future
projects, ongoing partnerships to help the SSMP meet its goals,
community engagement, and next steps. English and
Spanish versions of the report can be found at
www.saltonsea.ca.gov under the Featured Documents heading.
A special workshop on the binational sewage crisis was held
Wednesday in Imperial Beach. The meeting featured a panel of
experts from various government agencies and academic
institutions. Dozens of concerned residents gathered at the
special council workshop addressing the ongoing sewage crisis.
They heard from the International Boundary and Water Commission
shed light on cross-border sewage flows. … Scripps
Institution of Oceanography offered valuable insights into the
environmental impact of sewage contamination, while SDSU School
of Public Health discussed risks associated with chemical and
biological pollutants in water, air, and soil.
Plastic fragments have been found at the top of the Alps, in
the deepest parts of our oceans and likely, in your local
waterways. Some of this microplastic is in the form of nurdles.
You may not be familiar with them, but these lentil-sized
plastics pose a huge threat to our waters and
wildlife. Nurdles, also called plastic pellets, are the
building blocks of plastic manufacturing. At plastic factories,
pellets that fall on the floor or get contaminated with dirt
are sometimes washed down drains. Because they’re small and
lightweight, nurdles are often spilled during transport too.
… Plastic pellets are extremely difficult to clean up once
they reach our waterways, and often polluters are not held
accountable.
At least $11 billion would be needed to upgrade wastewater
treatment facilities across the Bay Area if regulators impose
anticipated stricter environmental rules, according to a
regional water board that seeks to protect the San Francisco
Bay. The upgrades at dozens of sewage treatment plants,
needed to prevent toxic algae blooms and protect fish, would
cost an average of $4,000 per household, and consumers may end
up funding the improvements. The key culprit? Nitrogen
found in urine and fecal matter, which feeds the growth of
algae.
Fishers are fighting tire companies’ attempt to dismiss an
Endangered Species Act suit over the use of a rubber additive
known as 6PPD, which harms salmon, telling a California federal
judge the companies are trying to delay accountability…
Two Tahoe towns are saying no to plastic water
bottles. South Lake Tahoe’s ban on single-use
plastic water bottles and paper cartons is slated to go into
full effect next month, soon after neighboring Truckee
passed an ordinance to implement a similar
ban. … The League to Save Lake Tahoe found that
single-use plastic bottles are one of the top five types of
litter in the Tahoe Basin, Truckee’s news release
states.
Today, legislation to protect California’s iconic salmon and
steelhead trout authored by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San
Mateo) was approved by the Assembly Committee on Transportation
with a bipartisan vote. The S.A.L.M.O.N Act (Stormwater
Anti-Lethal Measures for Our Natives Act), would mandate the
development and implementation of a regional strategy by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to eliminate (a
contaminant from tire rubber) from stormwater discharges
into specified salmon and steelhead trout-bearing surface
waters of the state.
Plastics are also … used in agriculture. Macroplastics are
used as protective wraps around mulch and fodder; they cover
greenhouses, shield crops from the elements, and are used to
make irrigation tubes, sacks, and bottles. … While there are
significant benefits to using plastics in agriculture, there
are emerging concerns regarding the risks associated with
agricultural plastics. Over time, macroplastics slowly break
down, fragmented by wind and sunlight into ever-smaller pieces
to generate microplastics and nanoplastics. These tiny plastic
particles seep into the soil, changing its physical structure
and limiting its capacity to hold water.
Years after a massive spill at a Los Angeles water treatment
facility dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the
Pacific, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency have ordered several improvements at the plant to help
prevent another such disaster, even when facing more intense
storms from a changing climate. The administrative order of
consent, issued this month, requires the Hyperion Water
Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey to make significant fixes to
its operations and infrastructure, including improving
monitoring systems and overflow channels, after the federal
agency’s review of the 2021 spill. The agreement, between the
EPA and the Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment division,
mandates the updates be implemented by the end of 2025, though
some are required to be completed as soon as within 30 days,
according to the order.
In what has been a years-long fight to fend off efforts to mine
sites and areas the Quechan Indian Tribe say are culturally
significant, the tribe was victorious in preserving those sites
this week with an unexpected win against Canada’s SMP Gold
Corp. … The federally protected land, under the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management, is culturally significant and
important to the Quechan Indian Tribe and its members have been
vehemently fighting the Oro Cruz mining project for years, with
the support of other tribes, and numerous environmental and
social justice groups and concerned residents behind them.
… After the hearing, White elaborated further and told
the Calexico Chronicle that the tribe is trying to dedicate the
Cargo Muchacho Mountains area as the “Kw’tsán National
Monument”
Some of California’s most treasured parks are threatened by
blight caused by pollution and climate change, according to a
pair of new reports. The four national parks with the highest
ozone levels are all in California, with Sequoia and Kings
Canyon National Parks topping the list of parks struggling with
air that’s dangerous to breathe, according to a recent report
by the National Parks Conservation Assn., an independent
advocacy group. Meanwhile, severe wildfires, drought and
sea-level rise are ravaging state parks, which encompass nearly
a quarter of California’s coastline, according to a separate
report by the California State Parks Foundation, another
advocacy group. … Behemoth sequoias and jagged Joshua
trees are among millions of trees across the state
succumbing to worsening wildfires, severe drought, extreme
heat, disease and other stressors that have been intensified by
global warming.
Microplastics are tiny, nearly indestructible fragments shed
from everyday plastic products. As we learn more about
microplastics, the news keeps getting worse. Already
well-documented in our oceans and soil, we’re now discovering
them in the unlikeliest of places: our arteries, lungs and even
placentas. Microplastics can take anywhere from 100 to 1,000
years to break down and, in the meantime, our planet and bodies
are becoming more polluted with these materials every day.
Finding viable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based
plastics and microplastics has never been more important. New
research from scientists at the University of California San
Diego and materials-science company Algenesis shows that their
plant-based polymers biodegrade — even at the microplastic
level — in under seven months. The paper, whose authors are all
UC San Diego professors, alumni or former research scientists,
appears in Nature Scientific Reports.
At least 70 million Americans get their water from a system
where toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” were found at levels that
require reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency.
That’s according to new data the EPA released in its ongoing
5-year review of water systems across the nation. The number
will almost certainly grow as new reports are released every
three months. … Found in drinking water, food,
firefighting foam, and nonstick and water-repellent items, PFAS
resist degradation, building up in both the environment and our
bodies. Salt Lake City; Sacramento,
California; Madison, Wisconsin; and Louisville,
Kentucky, were among the major systems reporting PFAS
contamination to the EPA in the latest data release.
California wineries appear to be complying with the Water
Board’s statewide Winery General Order’s winery wastewater
requirements, but the pace is slow, state statistics reveal.
And many are not in the compliance reporting pipeline at all,
data shows. (An overview page is provided here.) The order was
passed, the water boards said, for two major reasons. One was
because, “Winemakers requested the order to address the
statewide inconsistencies in permitting.” This request was from
large wineries that operate numerous facilities throughout the
state. (Smaller wineries opposed this in the public
hearings.) … As of Feb. 20, 2024, 201 wineries had
begun the process of filing, leaving a gap of 1,449 wineries
(the difference between 1,650 and 201, based on the initial
estimates).
Chevron has agreed to pay more than $13 million in fines for
dozens of past oil spills in California. The California-based
energy giant agreed to pay a $5.6 million fine associated with
a 2019 oil spill in Kern County. The company has already paid
to clean up that spill. This money will instead go toward the
state Department of Conservation’s work of plugging old and
orphaned wells. The department said it was the largest fine
ever assessed in its history. … The 2019 oil spill
dumped at least 800,000 gallons (3 million litres) of oil and
water into a canyon in Kern County, the home of the state’s oil
industry. Also, Chevron agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine
for more than 70 smaller spills between 2018 and 2023.
The deconstruction of Copco Dam Number One is going to get
underway in the next few weeks, and the Klamath River Renewal
Corporation says it’s all going ahead of schedule. Klamath
River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) CEO Mark Bransom says things
are going exceptionally in the progress of undamming the river.
Sharing, with approval to move forward on Copco Dam Number 1,
they’re now looking at a finish by the end of summer, and only
better days for the Klamath River from there. “They will begin
a series of drilling into the top of Copco Number One, packing
those holes with explosives, detonating those explosives and
the idea is to break up that large concrete dam into more
manageable chunks of concrete,” Bransom said.
Thousands of leaking, idle oil wells are scattered across
California, creating toxic graveyards symbolic of a dying
industry. To tackle this “urgent climate and public
health crisis,” Santa Barbara Assemblymember Gregg Hart
introduced Assembly Bill 1866 last week. The bill would mandate
oil operators to develop plans to plug the 40,000 idle wells
(and counting) in the state within a decade, prioritizing those
within 3,200 feet of vulnerable communities. … Ann
Alexander, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense
Council, calls the system “very badly broken.” Companies “just
sit indefinitely on their defunct wells” as they leak methane
gas, pollute the air, and contaminate groundwater.
… Last fall, the county announced its plan to
spend $3.7 million to repair an “unpluggable” well at
Toro Canyon Creek. Drilled in the 19th century, this idle well
has leaked thousands of gallons of crude oil since
the 1990s, contaminating waterways and killing wildlife as a
result.
Although pesticides can rid your home of cockroaches or farm
fields of unwanted insects, they also can harm fish and
potentially even people, according to a new study from Oregon
State University. At high concentrations, these commonly
used pyrethroid pesticides, bifenthrin, cyfluthrin and
cyhalothrin, act as a neurotoxin for pests. … At low
concentrations, the pyrethroid pesticides disrupt fish’s
endocrine system, which produces hormones. The scientists
wanted to better understand how short of an exposure would harm
fish.
Ten years. That’s how much time the Bay Area’s 37 wastewater
treatment plants will have to reduce fertilizer and sewage in
their water by 40%. The estimated price tag for the facility
upgrades is $11 billion. The San Francisco Regional Water
Quality Control Board plans to adopt the change as part of its
new discharge permit requirement beginning June 12. Previous
permits did not require reductions …The regulatory change
follows a damaging algae bloom in 2022 and 2023. A brown algae
species called Heterosigma akashiwo, which feeds off the
nitrogen in wastewater, infected the Bay and damaged aquatic
ecosystems.
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.”
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.
Blasted by sun and beaten by waves,
plastic bottles and bags shed fibers and tiny flecks of
microplastic debris that litter the San Francisco Bay where they
can choke the marine life that inadvertently consumes it.
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.
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:
Disadvantaged communities are those carrying the greatest
economic, health and environmental burdens. They include
poverty, high unemployment, higher risk of asthma and heart
disease, and often limited access to clean, affordable drinking
water.
For decades, cannabis has been grown
in California – hidden away in forested groves or surreptitiously
harvested under the glare of high-intensity indoor lamps in
suburban tract homes.
In the past 20 years, however, cannabis — known more widely as
marijuana – has been moving from being a criminal activity to
gaining legitimacy as one of the hundreds of cash crops in the
state’s $46 billion-dollar agriculture industry, first legalized
for medicinal purposes and this year for recreational use.
As we continue forging ahead in 2018
with our online version of Western Water after 40 years
as a print magazine, we turned our attention to a topic that also
got its start this year: recreational marijuana as a legal use.
State regulators, in the last few years, already had been beefing
up their workforce to tackle the glut in marijuana crops and
combat their impacts to water quality and supply for people, fish
and farming downstream. Thus, even if these impacts were perhaps
unbeknownst to the majority of Californians who approved
Proposition 64 in 2016, we thought it important to see if
anything new had evolved from a water perspective now that
marijuana was legal.
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.
Microplastics – plastic debris
measuring less than 5 millimeters – are an
increasing water quality concern. Entering the water as
industrial microbeads or as larger plastic litter that degrade
into small pellets, microplastics come from a variety of
consumer products.
Contaminants exist in water supplies from both natural and
manmade sources. Even those chemicals present without human
intervention can be mobilized from introduction of certain
pollutants from both
point and nonpoint sources.
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.
Point sources release pollutants from discrete conveyances, such
as a discharge pipe, and are regulated by federal and state
agencies. The main point source dischargers are factories and
sewage treatment plants, which release treated
wastewater.
Problems with polluted stormwater and steps that can be taken to
prevent such pollution and turn what is often viewed as
“nuisance” runoff into a water resource is the focus of this
publication, Stormwater Management: Turning Runoff into a
Resource. The 16-page booklet, funded by a grant from the State
Water Resources Control Board, includes color photos and
graphics, text explaining common stormwater pollutants and
efforts to prevent stormwater runoff through land use/
planning/development – as well as tips for homeowners to reduce
their impacts on stormwater pollution.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
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.
Salt. In a small amount, it’s a gift from nature. But any doctor
will tell you, if you take in too much salt, you’ll start to have
health problems. The same negative effect is happening to land in
the Central Valley. The problem scientists call “salinity” poses
a growing threat to our food supply, our drinking water quality
and our way of life. The problem of salt buildup and potential –
but costly – solutions are highlighted in this 2008 public
television documentary narrated by comedian Paul Rodriguez.
A 20-minute version of the 2008 public television documentary
Salt of the Earth: Salinity in California’s Central Valley. This
DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking
engagements to help the public understand the complex issues
surrounding the problem of salt build up in the Central Valley
potential – but costly – solutions. Narrated by comedian Paul
Rodriquez.
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 beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
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 28-page Layperson’s Guide to California
Wastewater is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the history of wastewater
treatment and how wastewater is collected, conveyed, treated and
disposed of today. The guide also offers case studies of
different treatment plants and their treatment processes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
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 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 presence of mercury in
the environment and the challenge of limiting the threat posed to
human health and wildlife. In addition to outlining the extent of
the problem and its resistance to conventional pollution
remedies, the article presents a glimpse of some possible courses
of action for what promises to be a long-term problem.
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.
2002 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most significant
environmental laws in American history, the Clean Water Act
(CWA). The CWA has had remarkable success, reversing years of
neglect and outright abuse of the nation’s waters. But challenges
remain as attention turns to the thorny issue of cleaning up
nonpoint sources of pollution.