Topic: Drinking Water

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works is temporarily changing how it disinfects water in the South County after residents were put under a boil water notice late last week. Around 50,000 residents in the Five Cities area were told on April 30 to boil their water before use after a sample from the Lopez Lake water system tested positive for E. coli, the county said. It was the first time such a sample had prompted a boil water notice for the distribution system, which feeds much of the South County region. … Now, Public Works is expected to temporarily change the disinfectant used in the Lopez Project distribution system from chloramine disinfection — which uses a blend of chlorine and ammonia — to free chlorine, according to a news release.

Related article:

• County of San Luis Obispo: News release: Conversion of drinking water disinfectant to free chlorine for the Five Cities area

… With the rapid rollbacks taking place across the federal government showing no signs of decelerating, many environmental groups have expressed concern that regulations safeguarding against PFAS contamination could soon be weakened or overturned. As a result of the unclear future of federal regulation, as well as the prevalence of PFAS in drinking water, many states have taken it upon themselves to strengthen their PFAS laws to protect their waterways. … One such example was seen in California, where state legislators introduced Assembly Bill 794 aiming to strengthen the State Water Board’s authority by empowering the Water Board to directly combat challenges to the existing federal regulation by ordering it to “establish emergency regulations that are at least as protective as current federal standards” (as of January 19, 2025).

Turn on the tap, and you have reasonably clean water to use instantly. That is because electricity pumps water to your faucets. Electricity is generated by heating water into steam to run turbines unless you use wind or photovoltaic (PV) energy sources for electrical production. Often, these essential connections are not mentioned in public information. Especially in drought-prone places, the simple fact is that you need water for energy, and it takes energy to move, chill, or heat water. Southern California is in a drought, and parts of the western deserts are in severe drought conditions. We may realize that hydroelectric power production from dammed rivers is diminished in periods of extended drought. Living well in a water deficit region requires enormous use of electrical energy to move water from mountainous northern California to our desert and semiarid regions. 

Tiny pieces of plastic are an increasingly big problem. Known as microplastics, they originate from clothing, kitchen utensils, personal care products, and countless other everyday objects. Their durability makes them persistent in the environment – including in human bodies. … According to a new literature review, a significant portion of our microplastic exposure may come from drinking water, as wastewater treatment plants are still not effectively removing microplastics. … ”What our systematic literature review found is that while most wastewater treatment facilities significantly reduce microplastics loads, complete removal remains unattainable with current technologies,” says senior author Un-Jung Kim, environmental engineer at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).

Despite advances in wastewater treatment, tiny plastic particles called microplastics are still slipping through, posing potential health and environmental hazards, according to new research from The University of Texas at Arlington. … (W)hen a plastic item reaches the end of its useful life, it never truly disappears. Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics—particles five millimeters or less, about the width of a pencil eraser—that end up in our soil and water. “What our systematic literature review found is that while most wastewater treatment facilities significantly reduce microplastics loads, complete removal remains unattainable with current technologies,” said Un-Jung Kim, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at UT Arlington and senior author of the study published in Science of the Total Environment. 

Outside of major cities like Fresno and Clovis, drinking-water quality for San Joaquin Valley residents can be dicey. The Valley is full of examples of rural water systems failing to either produce enough supply or deliver fresh water that is not tainted by contaminants, be they manufactured, like farming chemicals, or naturally occurring elements in local soils like arsenic. … Now, Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from Hanford, is teaming up with Rep. Norma Torres, a Democratic legislator from Southern California, on a new bill that would amend the federal Safe Drinking Water Act by adding a special focus on nitrate and arsenic pollution in groundwater. The amendment would authorize the federal government to allocate $15 million a year in grants to clean up failing water systems in rural communities.

… At the beginning of the 20th century, Frederick McKay, a young dentist in Colorado Springs, noticed that his patients’ teeth showed unsightly browning — now known as fluorosis, a consequence of exposure to too much fluoride. At the same time, those patients’ teeth were far more resistant to dental decay than those of people in nearby towns, whose teeth looked better. … As for natural contamination of the kind that Colorado Springs experienced, it’s estimated that more than 100,000 people in the United States get their water from wells with naturally excessive fluoride levels. You’d think that the folks calling to end fluoridation would also be unveiling a comprehensive plan to help people make sure their private water sources are safe. Yet Kennedy has not done so. Why not? A better question might be why now? Why the sudden urge to talk about fluoride? I think the answer may lie somewhere quite far afield. In Texas, actually. 
-Written by Zeynep Tufekci, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and a New York Times Opinion columnist.

Other fluoride news:

• The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): Opinion: University of Utah event on Utah’s ban on fluoridation featuring RFK Jr. was problematic on several fronts
• CNN: Podcast: Chasing Life: Is fluoride in our drinking water safe?

… Studies suggest that PFAS has contaminated almost 50% of the U.S. tap water supply. These chemicals are linked to a growing list of health risks, including cancers and chronic diseases. Many global institutions have recently taken regulatory action. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed stringent limits for PFAS in drinking water. … Beyond drinking water, recent studies expose another major PFAS concern: wastewater and sludge. Treated wastewater, often considered safe for reuse, has been found to still carry significant levels of PFAS. Even more concerning is the widespread practice of using treated sewage sludge as farm fertilizer. The EPA has warned that PFAS in sludge can contaminate crops, soil, and groundwater, creating a direct pathway from industrial chemical waste to the food we eat. … The question isn’t whether businesses should act, it’s whether they can afford not to. 

Other PFAS news:

• Waste360: Blog: Catching up on PFAS policies: What may be “in stone” and what could change​​
• Phys.org: Molecular nanocages can remove 80–90% of PFAS from water
• Water World: How PFAS regulations have changed in the Trump administration, so far

Tens of millions of Americans have likely consumed drinking water containing cancer-causing chemicals that form when livestock manure and other organic substances end up in public water sources, according to a new analysis. Thousands of industrial-scale farms across the country spray manure from livestock onto farm or other lands, which then runs off into waterways. When water utilities disinfect water using chlorine and other chemicals, the process interacts with manure runoff to create a byproduct known as trihalomethanes, or TTHMs, which have been found to cause birth defects and cancers. A new analysis by the environmental watchdog organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that, between 2019 and 2023, unsafe levels of TTHMs ended up at least once in each of nearly 6,000 community water systems across 49 states and Washington, DC affecting an estimated 122 million people.

Related article:

• Smart Water Magazine: EWG report identifies animal waste as source of alarming chemical carcinogens in drinking water

Millions of people across the United States could be drinking water contaminated with dangerous levels of substances created when utilities disinfect water tainted with animal manure and other pollutants, according to a report released Thursday. An analysis of testing results from community water systems in 49 states found that nearly 6,000 such systems serving 122 million people recorded an unsafe level of chemicals known as trihalomethanes at least once during testing from 2019 to 2023. … New York, Oklahoma, California and Illinois followed Texas with hundreds of water systems in each of those states showing higher-than-allowed levels of TTHMs during the testing period, the EWG report found. More than 64.5 million people are served by 3,170 systems in the ten states that had the most violations.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be reconvening an independent panel of health experts to make a new recommendation on putting fluoride in drinking water, a spokesperson said on Monday. The use of the mineral, which is added to water to strengthen tooth enamel and promote dental health, has been a hot-button political issue in some states for decades. ”HHS is reconvening the Community Preventive Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride,” an HHS spokesperson said. The statement followed an Associated Press report quoting Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying at an event in Salt Lake City, Utah, that he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water.

Other drinking water news:

• Courthouse News Service: EPA defends its toxic water guidelines allowing higher levels of chemicals
• The Mercury News: HHS, EPA to study fluoride in drinking water as RFK Jr. says he’ll tell CDC to stop recommending it
• The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.): CA stands by by fluoridated drinking water as RFK Jr., EPA raise concerns

New polling shows Americans view ensuring a reliable water supply as their top issue, beating out inflation, healthcare reform and others.  The polling comes from the US Water Alliance’s Value of Water Campaign, an effort to raise awareness of the need to support water infrastructure, and is the first time a reliable water supply topped the list of key issues. Reducing water contamination came in third, behind inflation.  Most Americans polled also expect the federal government to make investments to improve and maintain water infrastructure, the polling found, with the majority of participants going as far as supporting bond measures and higher local water bills to do so.

Fluoridated drinking water has been hailed as one of the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But it’s also a practice that new health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said should be halted.  This week, Utah appeared to heed his warnings, as Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation late Thursday that banned fluoride in public drinking water across the state, making it the first state to do so.  “We don’t need fluoride in our water. It’s a very bad way to deliver it into our systems,” Kennedy had asserted the day after the November election to NPR on Morning Edition. Below, a primer on fluoride in drinking water, its history of controversy, and what the science says.

Water regulation in Arizona has devolved into a game of chicken. The governor and farmers are rivals revving their engines, hoping their opponent will flinch first. Caught in the middle is Gila Bend, a groundwater basin south of Buckeye, where the state could decide to impose its most stringent form of regulation, whether folks like it or not. Both sides are using Gila Bend as a bargaining chip to win support for competing legislative proposals. But to what end?
- Written by Joanna Allhands, Arizona Republic digital opinions editor 

Related article: 

• Las Vegas Sun: Federal agency releases Topock Marsh project info

State health officials know that extreme heat can cost lives and send people to the hospital, just like wildfire smoke. Now, new research finds that when people are exposed to both hazards simultaneously — as is increasingly the case in California — heart and respiratory crises outpace the expected sum of hospitalizations compared to when the conditions occur separately. … The study joins a growing body of research about the intersection of different climate risks. Last month, California-based think-tank the Pacific Institute published a report about how converging hazards — including wildfires, drought, flooding, sea level rise and intensifying storms — are harming access to drinking water and sanitation in California and other parts of the world. The deadly 2018 Camp fire in Butte County impacted an estimated 2,438 private wells, the report said.

… A state audit from the California Water Resources Control Board released last year found that over 920,000 residents faced an increased risk of illness–including cancer, liver and kidney problems–due to consuming unsafe drinking water. A majority of these unsafe water systems are in the Central Valley. The matter has prompted community leaders to mobilize residents around water quality as politicians confront imperfect solutions for the region’s supply. Advocates point out that impacted areas, including those in Tulare County, tend to be majority Latino with low median incomes. … This year’s extreme weather has only worsened the valley’s problems. The storms that hit California at the start of this year caused stormwater tainted with farm industry fertilizer, manure and nitrates to flow into valley aquifers.