An invisible contamination problem has been brewing in
America’s underground water supplies for decades. New research
from the U.S. Geological Survey has finally mapped its extent,
showing that between 71 and 95 million Americans rely on
groundwater containing detectable levels of “forever
chemicals,” synthetic compounds linked to cancer, fertility
issues, and other health problems. This research,
published in Science, includes a first-of-its-kind map that
comes as public awareness about these contaminants grows.
Residents and businesses in Pacific Palisades will be able to
safely use water this week, Mayor Karen Bass announced
Thursday, touting the milestone as a sign of the speed of
efforts to rebuild the devastated neighborhood. The “do not
drink” notice will be lifted Friday, the two-month anniversary
of the deadly Palisades fire, after engineers and experts at
the L.A. Department of Water and Power confirmed the absence of
contaminants in the water supply. Bass credited DWP crews for
working seven days a week to restore and flush out toxic
substances from the water supply, drawing a comparison to the
November 2018 wildfire in Paradise, where the do-not-drink
advisory remained in place until May 2020.
Lead pipes were banned in the United States in 1986. But dozens
of Inland Empire school districts still had lead showing up in
their drinking water in the past decade. California published
its final report on lead in school drinking water in 2020. At
that time, 18 of the Inland Empire’s four dozen districts and
other education agencies had lead in campus drinking fountains
or sinks, according to the State Water Resources Control
Board’s last listing. … After testing, all these districts
fixed the problems by replacing pipes, shutting off drinking
fountains and adding filters to sinks. Still, many Inland
students in recent years likely drank water with lead levels
higher than the recommended standard.
… The current inflationary environment and uncertain political
climate—particularly at the federal level—are only amplifying
these challenges for local utilities. This report describes the
country’s water affordability challenge in more depth by
focusing on utilities, including where they stand in the
current federal moment and new national data on the geographic
extent of this challenge. The report also discusses potential
water affordability strategies that local utilities—alongside
supportive state and federal leaders—can pursue (or are already
pursuing) to help alleviate these fiscal pressures.
Admiring the beautiful view of the ocean, Shelly Moore looks
beyond the surface, having trained her eyes to see the problems
hidden below. On her quick walk outside, she notices the
glass and plastic bottles peeking from under the ocean along
the Long Beach marina. It’s a reminder of the 11 million metric
tons of plastic the California Ocean Protection Council
estimates enter global oceans every year. Although as the
executive director of the Moore Institue for Plastic Pollution,
she said the effort to change that starts at home. … That is
exactly what she and her team at the Moore Institute for
Plastic Pollution Research are doing, taking a rather
microscopic view of the problem.
West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) – a wholesale
water agency that serves nearly one million people in Los
Angeles County – has announced a major milestone in water
recycling with the completion of the Phase II Expansion Project
at the Juanita Millender-McDonald Carson Regional Water
Recycling Plant (JMMCRWRP). This project includes the
installation of a Custom Engineered Membrane Filtration (CEMF)
system. … The new CEMF system is an advanced open-platform
microfiltration system capable of accommodating up to six
different membranes.
While the rains were a welcome respite from the month of
destructive wildfires, they also raised concerns about
contaminated runoff and questions on how to rebuild a
climate-resilient city. Heavy rains after a fire can be
dangerous, increasing the risk of flash flooding, mudslides and
debris flows, as witnessed in Pacific Palisades and Sierra Madre.
But, perhaps less obvious, is the serious threat of toxic
chemicals in fire-ravaged areas that gets washed into waterways,
threatening water quality, public health and the environment,
according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
A study led by the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public
Health at the University of California, Irvine has revealed
possible links between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances in drinking water and an increased risk of certain
childhood cancers. Widely used in industrial and consumer
products, PFAS — commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to
their persistence in the environment — have been linked to
various adverse health effects. … In an online study in the
journal Environmental Epidemiology, the researchers
investigated the role that PFAS exposure via drinking water
contamination may play in childhood cancer risk.
Utah could soon become the first U.S. state to ban the addition
of fluoride to drinking water. On Friday, the Utah State Senate
approved a bill that prohibits adding the mineral to public water
systems. If signed by Governor Spencer Cox, the measure would go
into effect on May 7. The governor has not publicly commented on
whether he supports the bill. The passage of the Utah bill comes
roughly two weeks after the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy,
Jr., as health secretary. In November, Mr. Kennedy vowed that the
Trump administration would “advise all U.S. systems to remove
fluoride from public water.”
Nearly 4 million people are served drinking water from
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, making it
one of the largest water utilities in the U.S. With the release
of the 2025 update of EWG’s Tap Water Database, we took a
closer look at this expansive system for the millions of
Angelenos served by it, comparing it to the nation as a whole.
In addition to information about L.A. drinking water quality,
the Tap Water Database provides details about chemical and
radioactive contaminants in the water of nearly 50,000
community systems nationwide. … Test results through 2024
showed 24 contaminants found in the L.A. system, with nine at
levels above EWG’s health-based limits.
Utah appears to be the first state ready to put a full ban on
fluoride in public water systems under a bill that doesn’t
allow cities or communities to decide whether to add the
cavity-preventing mineral. … Utah’s bill cleared its final
hurdle in the legislature Friday and heads to Gov. Spencer Cox
for his approval. A spokesperson for Cox didn’t immediately
respond to a question about whether he’d sign it. Already,
some cities across the country have tossed fluoride from their
water and other municipalities are considering doing the same.
A few months ago, a federal judge ordered the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to regulate fluoride in
drinking water because high levels could pose a risk to kids’
intellectual development.
Citing concerns that the Trump Administration could roll back
or weaken drinking water standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) under the Biden Administration, California
Asseblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-46) has introduced Assembly Bill
(AB) 794, which would set state-level drinking water standards
for PFAS. In April 2024, EPA issued the first-ever national,
legally enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS, setting
legally enforceable limits for five PFAS of concern (PFOA,
PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA). Exposure to these “forever
chemicals” has been linked to cancer, impacts to the liver and
heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and
children.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has
launched an interactive Water Quality Restoration Dashboard to
provide essential updates and information for residents
affected by the “Do Not Drink” notice in effect in most
portions of Pacific Palisades and adjacent LADWP service areas.
… Customers in the affected areas, which include most of the
90272 Zip Code and portions of the LADWP Service Area
immediately south of 90272, north of San Vicente Blvd. can now
use the dashboard to locate their address on an interactive map
to determine their corresponding water service zone within the
affected area. For added clarity, the dashboard specifies each
zone’s current restoration status while providing preliminary
test results and progress updates for testing in each zone.
(Gail Krantzberg, professor emeritus in McMaster’s W Booth
School of Engineering Practice and Technology:) Trump’s
suggestion about a faucet in B.C. should concern Canadians.
It’s crucial that people start thinking about the potential
impact of Trump’s policies on our water resources, not just in
British Columbia, but across the entire continent. If he’s
considering taking B.C.’s water to fight fires in California,
what about our Great Lakes that support a $7 trillion
economy? … The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Sustainable
Water Resources Act mandates that any water taken from the
lakes must be returned, and it is only allowed for specific
emergency purposes, like firefighting and drinking water.
Pumping water back over long distances would be prohibitively
expensive and difficult.
Every family deserves the peace of mind that comes with clean,
lead-free drinking water. At San Jose Water, we are committed
to developing a comprehensive inventory of service line
materials in our system. Since 2017, we’ve worked alongside
industry experts to inspect thousands of lines using a
combination of historical records, predictive modeling and
field inspections. So, how many lead service lines have we
found in the past seven years? Zero. … Now, we’re
taking it further to pinpoint exact materials on the
customer-owned portion of service lines, where historical
records are less complete. Is it copper? Is it plastic? –Written by Suzanne DeLorenzo, director of water quality
at San Jose Water.
Projects to turn wastewater into drinkable water are
progressing in San Diego and East County, but their costs have
once again spiked. In East County, a milestone is approaching
as a 24-inch pipeline that will transport water from the
Advanced Water Purification plant under construction in Santee
to the Lake Jennings reservoir in El Cajon is on track to be
completed by the end of the month. … It will convert 15 million
gallons of wastewater a day into enough drinkable water to meet
30% of East County’s demands. Construction of another stretch
of pipeline needed for East County’s and San Diego’s water
treatment projects is beginning soon in Mission Trails Regional
Park. Costs of that project recently saw a significant price
increase for the city of San Diego’s $5 billion Pure Water
sewage recycling system and the $1 billion Advanced Water
Purification program.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel introduced a bill on Wednesday to
require California to set emergency rules limiting PFAS in
drinking water, following similar standards set by EPA and 11
other states. The proposal, AB 794, would allow the State Water
Resources Control Board to set standards that are more
stringent than the first-ever national standards finalized by
former President Joe Biden’s EPA in April 2024, which are now
under litigation by chemical companies and water
utilities.
… Today, most Altadena and Pacific Palisades residents
still don’t have clean drinking water, with “do not drink” and
“do not boil” notices still in effect. They pick up packages of
bottled water from the stoop of the utilities’ offices, and
while they’re technically allowed to use the tap water for
showers, washing hands and laundry, many still don’t trust
it. As residents question why it’s taking so long to bring
back clean drinking water, the utilities are pushing through a
lengthy process of restoring water pressure throughout their
sprawling system, then repeatedly testing hundreds of sites for
dangerous carcinogens and attempting to flush them out until
the water is safe.
Sweetwater Authority, which supplies drinking water to roughly
200,000 customers in Chula Vista and surrounding communities,
learned last month that its main reservoir contains levels of a
toxic industrial chemical that could require expensive
treatment or necessitate decommissioning the reservoir
entirely. The elevated chemical finding came as part of a
year-long testing process required by the Environmental
Protection Agency, or EPA. An earlier sample taken late last
year found PFAS levels high enough to require public
notification. Samples taken last month found even higher levels
of one chemical, PFOA, that the EPA has designated a “hazardous
substance” posing “a substantial danger to the public
health.”
Cities across California and the Southwest are significantly
increasing and diversifying their use of recycled wastewater as
traditional water supplies grow tighter.
The 5th edition of our Layperson’s Guide to Water Recycling
covers the latest trends and statistics on water reuse as a
strategic defense against prolonged drought and climate change.
Water bubbles up in streets, pooling in neighborhoods for weeks
or months. Homes burn to the ground if firefighters can’t draw
enough water from hydrants. Utility crews struggle to fix
broken pipes while water flows through shut-off valves that
don’t work. … Across the U.S., trillions of gallons of
drinking water are lost every year, especially from decrepit
systems in communities struggling with significant population
loss and industrial decline that leave behind poorer residents,
vacant neighborhoods and too-large water systems that are
difficult to maintain.
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
The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee is holding an
important hearing Thursday on S. 2385, a bill to
refine the tools needed to help Tribal communities gain access
to something that most non-Indian communities in the western
United States have long taken for granted: federally subsidized
systems to deliver safe, clean drinking water to our homes.
… This is the sort of bill (there’s a companion on the
House side) that makes a huge amount of sense, but could easily
get sidetracked in the chaos of Congress. The ideal path is for
the crucial vetting to happen in a process such as Thursday’s
hearing, and then to attach it to one of those omnibus things
that Congress uses these days to get non-controversial stuff
done. Clean water for Native communities should pretty clearly
be non-controversial.
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.
After more than two decades of
drought, water utilities serving the largest urban regions in the
arid Southwest are embracing a drought-proof source of drinking
water long considered a supply of last resort: purified sewage.
Water supplies have tightened to the point that Phoenix and the
water supplier for 19 million Southern California residents are
racing to adopt an expensive technology called “direct potable
reuse” or “advanced purification” to reduce their reliance on
imported water from the dwindling Colorado River.
… 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.
Tiny pieces of plastic waste shed
from food wrappers, grocery bags, clothing, cigarette butts,
tires and paint are invading the environment and every facet of
daily life. Researchers know the plastic particles have even made
it into municipal water supplies, but very little data exists
about the scope of microplastic contamination in drinking
water.
After years of planning, California this year is embarking on a
first-of-its-kind data-gathering mission to illuminate how
prevalent microplastics are in the state’s largest drinking water
sources and help regulators determine whether they are a public
health threat.
A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Shortly after taking office in 2019,
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water
Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges —
unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing
climate, severely depleted groundwater aquifers and native fish
populations threatened with extinction.
Within days, he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and
veteran water communicator, as director of the Governor’s Water
Portfolio Program to help shepherd the monumental task of
compiling all the information necessary for the portfolio. The
three state agencies tasked with preparing the document delivered
the draft Water Resilience Portfolio Jan. 3. The document, which
Vogel said will help guide policy and investment decisions
related to water resilience, is nearing the end of its comment
period, which goes through Friday, Feb. 7.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
Joaquin Esquivel learned that life is
what happens when you make plans. Esquivel, who holds the public
member slot at the State Water Resources Control Board in
Sacramento, had just closed purchase on a house in Washington
D.C. with his partner when he was tapped by Gov. Jerry Brown a
year ago to fill the Board vacancy.
Esquivel, 35, had spent a decade in Washington, first in several
capacities with then Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and then as
assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California
Natural Resources Agency. As a member of the State Water Board,
he shares with four other members the difficult task of
ensuring balance to all the uses of California’s water.
A new study could help water
agencies find solutions to the vexing challenges the homeless
face in gaining access to clean water for drinking and
sanitation.
The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority (SAWPA) in Southern California has embarked on a
comprehensive and collaborative effort aimed at assessing
strengths and needs as it relates to water services for people
(including the homeless) within its 2,840 square-mile area that
extends from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Orange County
coast.
A statewide program that began under a 2015 law to help
low-income people with their water bills would cost about $600
million annually, a public policy expert told the California
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) at a
meeting last week.
Potable water, also known as
drinking water, comes from surface and ground sources and is
treated to levels that that meet state and federal standards for
consumption.
Water from natural sources is treated for microorganisms,
bacteria, toxic chemicals, viruses and fecal matter. Drinking
raw, untreated water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as
diarrhea, vomiting or fever.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses
the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent
facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully
illustrated with color photographs.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
This 30-minute DVD explains the importance of developing a source
water assessment program (SWAP) for tribal lands and by profiling
three tribes that have created SWAPs. Funded by a grant from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the video complements the
Foundation’s 109-page workbook, Protecting Drinking Water: A
Workbook for Tribes, which includes a step-by-step work plan for
Tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their
drinking water.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this
24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson
River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes the
Lahontan Dam and reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming
areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and
geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the
basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan
Basin Area Office.
This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
Finding and maintaining a clean
water supply for drinking and other uses has been a constant
challenge throughout human history.
Today, significant technological developments in water treatment,
including monitoring and assessment, help ensure a drinking water
supply of high quality in California and the West.
The source of water and its initial condition prior to being
treated usually determines the water treatment process. [See also
Water Recycling.]
A tremendous amount of time and technology is expended to make
surface water safe to drink. Surface water undergoes many
processes before it reaches a consumer’s tap.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
groundwater management and the extent to which stakeholders
believe more efforts are needed to preserve and restore the
resource.
This printed issue of Western Water, based on presentations
at the November 3-4, 2010 Water Quality Conference in Ontario,
Calif., looks at constituents of emerging concerns (CECs) – what
is known, what is yet to be determined and the potential
regulatory impacts on drinking water quality.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
desalination – an issue that is marked by great optimism and
controversy – and the expected role it might play as an
alternative water supply strategy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
This issue of Western Water looks at some of the issues
facing drinking water providers, such as compliance with
increasingly stringent treatment requirements, the need to
improve source water quality and the mission of continually
informing consumers about the quality of water they receive.
This issue of Western Water examines PPCPs – what they are, where
they come from and whether the potential exists for them to
become a water quality problem. With the continued emphasis on
water quality and the fact that many water systems in the West
are characterized by flows dominated by effluent contributions,
PPCPs seem likely to capture interest for the foreseeable future.
This issue of Western Water examines the problem of perchlorate
contamination and its ramifications on all facets of water
delivery, from the extensive cleanup costs to the search for
alternative water supplies. In addition to discussing the threat
posed by high levels of perchlorate in drinking water, the
article presents examples of areas hard hit by contamination and
analyzes the potential impacts of forthcoming drinking water
standards for perchlorate.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
