The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on
April 22, 2025, settlements with 10 entities with facilities
across California for claims of chemical safety-related
violations under the Clean Air Act. Two water treatment plants
were listed in EPA’s expedited settlement agreements. All
entities agreed to come into compliance with Risk Management
Program (RMP) safety requirements and pay penalties, which
total over $170,000. According to the EPA, two water
treatment plants in the state of California had violations:
Benecia Water Treatment Plant … (and) Cement Hill Water
Treatment Plant.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday
that Mexico must stop the flow of billions of gallons of sewage
and toxic chemicals from Tijuana that has polluted the Pacific
Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and
sickening Navy SEALs who train in the water. Lee Zeldin made
the demand during an Earth Day trip to the California-Mexico
border, where he toured a plant in San Diego County that treats
the sewage as a secondary facility and flew along the frontier
to see the Tijuana River. He also was scheduled to meet with
SEALs. Zeldin said that in the next day or so, his agency will
present Mexico a to-do list of projects to resolve the
decades-long environmental crisis, but he stopped short of
specifying how the Trump administration would hold Mexico
accountable if it does not act.
(From news release:) Anticipated water demands for Klamath
Project water contractors are likely to be met as the Klamath
Basin hydrology pivots from consecutive years of drought.
Described in the 2025
Klamath Project Annual Operations Plan, today’s
initial water supply allocations from the Bureau of Reclamation
are based on modeled estimates of water available for
irrigation delivery and incorporate current reservoir storage,
precipitation, and snowpack, as well as projected inflow
forecasts. … The 2025 Plan is used as a planning and
information tool by water users and details the volume of water
available for Project irrigated agriculture as well as water
reserved to meet Endangered Species Act requirements in the
Klamath River and Upper Klamath Basin.
Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in everyday
products from face wash to toothpaste, are an emerging threat
to health and ecology, prompting a research team to identify
what keeps them trapped in stream ecosystems. Everyday
actions like washing synthetic clothing and driving, which
wears down tires, contribute to an accumulation of
microplastics in environments from city dust to waterways.
These plastics often carry toxic chemicals that can threaten
the health of humans and wildlife.”We are the key source of
microplastics,” said Shannon Speir, assistant professor and
researcher in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food
and Life Sciences, and for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment
Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System
Division of Agriculture.
A senate bill has been introduced to the Nevada legislature
this session that could prohibit the sale of plastic water
bottles in Nevada Lake Tahoe communities, if passed. The bill
is similar to the City of South Lake Tahoe’s ordinance that
went into effect on Earth Day of last year and the Town of
Truckee’s ordinance, taking effect this upcoming Earth Day.
Both ban the sale of certain plastic water bottles and both
municipalities lie on the California side of Lake Tahoe.
Senate Bill 324 would introduce similar restrictions in
communities that abut the Nevada portion of the Lake Tahoe
Watershed. The proposed bills prohibits sale of disposable
plastic water bottles under four liters.
Nearly a thousand Imperial Beach residents are joining a
lawsuit against the operators of the South Bay International
Wastewater Treatment Plant, including Veolia Water, over the
ongoing sewage crisis that has plagued the community for
decades. Residents report health problems, devalued homes and
diminished quality of life due to billions of gallons of sewage
flowing from the Tijuana River into their community.
… The lawsuit, filed by Frantz Law Group in November, is
one of five similar legal actions initiated in the past year.
It accuses Veolia Water of negligence and conscious disregard
for community safety by exposing South Bay residents to raw
sewage and contamination.
The Port of Los Angeles must significantly improve its
management of stormwater and groundwater to ensure that toxic
pollutants stay out of the harbor, according to Wednesday’s
tentative settlement of a lawsuit against the city of Los
Angeles for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit brought by Los Angeles-based Environment California
in July 2024 alleged that there have been more than 2,000
illegal discharges of pollution in the previous five years at
the port. That pollution stems from bacteria-laden stormwater
and contaminated groundwater that accumulates in a 53-acre area
of the port and is discharged into the harbor, the suit
alleges.
Officials are monitoring reports from the San Diego County Air
Pollution Control District of an overnight uptick in hydrogen
sulfide readings in the Tijuana River Valley, creating odor
issues in South County. The increase in odors in the last 24
hours “appears to be associated with reports from the
(International Boundary and Water Commission) that sewage
infrastructure work in Mexico has resulted in the release of up
to 5 million gallons per night of sewage into the Tijuana River
Valley,” according to the county. This flow comes in addition
to “rogue sewage flows” being investigated by the IBWC with its
partners in Mexico. The IBWC operates the South Bay
International Wastewater Treatment Plant and is tasked with
collaborating with Mexico on border water issues.
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.
Recently, two critical policy committees passed Senate Bills 10
and 594, authored by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). SB 10
would expressly authorize funds from the new toll road to be
used for water treatment, environmental mitigation, and
restoration of the Tijuana River Valley, and SB 594 would give
communities across the state with existing environmental
pollution burdens the opportunity to voice their concerns in a
publicly noticed hearing when a new landfill development is
proposed, as is the case in the River Valley. … SB 10
passed the Senate Transportation Committee last week by a vote
of 11 to 3, and SB 594 passed the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee today by a vote of 5 to 0. Both bills now head to the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
Taking medicine can help us get better when we’re ill. But our
bodies won’t absorb all of a drug. The leftovers leave in our
urine. Water treatment plants were never designed to remove
those drugs. So they just flow through these cleanup plants and
into rivers and other sources of drinking water. But a simple
low-cost, two-step process could help end that. An added
benefit, this treatment also removes plant fertilizers. And
that’s a good thing, because they can trigger blooms of harmful
microbes in lakes, rivers and streams. Researchers at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and at China
Agricultural University in Beijing developed the new process.
They shared how it works in the December 5 Journal of Hazardous
Materials.
A smoldering chemical reaction brewing deep inside the recently
closed Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic now threatens to
consume an entire 160-acre canyon of buried waste, endangering
a storage area for hazardous liquid waste, according to state
officials. … State regulators worry that damage to the
tank farm would cause chemical-laden leachate to spill onto the
landfill’s surface and potentially into nearby sources of
water. State agencies have ordered Waste Connections to
relocate the tank farm to prevent hazardous chemicals from
seeping into groundwater or spilling into
storm drains that feed into the Santa Clara River.
A significant spill that sent more than 2 million gallons of
sewage into the Truckee River which went unreported in 2022 and
2023 has prompted legislative action in Nevada. A new bill,
Senate Bill 276, introduced by state Senator Ira Hansen in
Carson City, aims to prevent similar incidents by requiring
that downstream users be notified in the event of a spill.
Chairman Steven Wadsworth of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
expressed frustration over the lack of notification regarding
the spill, which originated from an apartment complex.
“Unbelievable how this could happen and even worse than that
how could we not be notified,” said Wadsworth.
… How best to get rid of PFASs is now a multibillion-dollar
question. The EPA estimated that US utilities might have to
spend up to $1.5 billion annually for treatment systems; an
industry group that is suing the agency argues that costs could
be up to $48 billion over the next 5 years. Utilities must have
systems in place by 2029. … And although the EPA has
focused on drinking water, scientists want to stop PFASs from
ever reaching the water by removing them from other
environmental sources. … With looming deadlines,
academic researchers and companies are developing methods to
gather and destroy PFASs from these sources.
In a continued effort to expedite rebuilding after Los Angeles’
devastating firestorms, Gov. Gavin Newsom this week suspended
California environmental laws for utility providers working to
reinstall key infrastructure. His latest executive order
eliminates requirements to comply with the California
Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and the California Coastal
Act for utilities working to rebuild “electric, gas, water,
sewer and telecommunication infrastructure” in the Palisades
and Eaton fire burn zones. Newsom also continued to encourage
the “undergrounding” of utility equipment when feasible, which
he said will help minimize the future fire risk in these
communities.
Officials are investigating several fire stations between
Livermore and Pleasanton for water contamination as Pleasanton
continues looking for new well sites. In 2023, The San
Francisco Bay Regional Water Board started to examine
facilities for evidence of possible PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl
substances, in groundwater and runoff storm water in the two
cities. The board chose to investigate the fire stations
after Pleasanton in 2019 began shutting down its three
wells due to significant PFAS contamination. The board now
wants to figure out if fire-fighting foams, which contain the
forever chemical, were a significant source of a massive
subsurface plume of those substances.
Dozens of Central Valley residents are planning to gather in
Fresno to voice their opposition to a plan to expand dumping
they say will bring dangerous waste to the region. On
March 20, residents and environmental justice advocates plan to
protest on the steps of Fresno City Hall against a proposed
expansion of hazardous waste dumping that could permit city
landfills to take more contaminated soil. … According to a
news release from the California Environmental Justice
Coalition, the plan threatens air and water quality, public
health, and community safety, especially in communities already
burdened by pollution.
Real estate in San Mateo County is among the most valuable in
the United States. Even small parcels can fetch millions. Yet,
in East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood Business District, acres of land
sit empty, their potential unrealized. At first glance,
these vacant lots appear to be prime real estate — offering
stunning views of the Diablo Range to the east and the Santa
Cruz Mountains to the west, with the San Francisco Bay Trail
hugging the area’s eastern edge. But beneath the surface,
remnants of the area’s industrial past linger. Arsenic,
lead, cadmium, volatile organic compounds, and oil contaminate
the soil and groundwater, rendering much of the
district uninhabitable until extensive remediation is complete.
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.
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. They enter waterways and
oceans as industrial microbeads from various consumer
products or larger plastic litter that degrades into small bits.
Microbeads have been used in exfoliating agents, cosmetic washes
and large-scale cleaning processes. Microplastics are used
pharmaceutically for efficient drug delivery to affected sites in
patients’ bodies and by textile companies to create artificial
fibers.
Microplastics disperse easily and widely throughout surface waters and sediments. UV
light, microbes and erosion degrade the tiny fragments, making
them even smaller and more difficult for wastewater treatment
plants to remove.
The particles, usually made of polyethylene or polypropylene
plastic, take thousands of years to biodegrade
naturally. It takes prohibitively high temperatures to
break microplastics down fully. Consequently, most water treatment plants cannot remove
them.
The health effects of consumption are currently under
investigation.
Responses
Many advocacy groups have published lists of products containing
microbeads to curb their purchase and pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates microbeads in
industrial, but not domestic, wastewater.
Federal
law required microbeads to be phased out of rinse-off
cosmetics beginning in July 2017. Dozens of states also
regulate microbeads in products. California has the strictest
limitation, prohibiting even the use of biodegradable microbeads.
Microplastics in California Water
In 2019, the San Francisco Estuary Institute published a
study estimating that 7 trillion pieces of microplastic
enter San Francisco
Bay annually from stormwater runoff, about 300
times the amount in all wastewater treatment effluent entering
the bay.
California lawmakers in 2018 passed a package of bills to raise
awareness of the risks of microplastics and microfibers in the
marine environment and drinking water. As
directed by the legislation, the State Water Resources Control
Board in 2020 adopted an official
definition of microplastics in drinking water and in 2022
developed the world’s standardized methods for testing drinking
water for microplastics.
The water board was expected by late 2023 to begin testing
for microplastics in untreated drinking water sources tapped by
30 of the state’s largest water utilities. After two years, the
testing was expected to extend to treated tap water served
to consumers. A progress report and recommendations for
policy changes or additional research are required by the end of
2025.
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.
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.
