NEWS

Two bills aimed at protecting small towns mired in debt, drinking water contamination and dropping groundwater levels have become law.  Senate Bill 3, authored by state Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa,) extends water shutoff protections to households in communities with less than 200 water connections. That includes a handful of towns in the San Joaquin Valley…
Most Lamont residents likely had no idea that a mini hoopla held in the middle of town Monday morning next to a newly constructed well was actually a celebration of their children’s and their grandchildren’s futures. “This is generational,” said Lamont Public Utilities District General Manager Scott Taylor. “It allows us to provide clean and…
The two-street town of Tooleville finally saw significant progress in a decades-long quest for clean drinking water this week when the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced $7.2 million in funding for an interim connection project. Tooleville will be hooked up to the nearby city of Exeter’s water system, something advocates and Tooleville residents…
Southern California’s reliance on Kern County’s prolific groundwater banks for drought insurance could be jeopardized by a chemical known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP). The cancer-causing agent has been found in several large groundwater banking operations in Kern and a first look at how much it may cost to clean up is a doozy. Up to $465…
Free water deliveries have started for some San Joaquin Valley residents with nitrate contaminated wells. But advocates worry that nine months into the state’s nitrate control program, outreach has been lacking and not enough wells have been tested. The nitrate control program launched in May of 2021. It offers free water deliveries for residents whose…
by Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Colorado Public Radio, Columbia Insight, The Counter, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. The project was made possible by a grant from the Water Foundation…
by Lois Henry
The big kahuna of California water — Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — has stopped taking supplies from one Kern County groundwater bank because the water is heavily tainted with a cancer-causing agent that is pervasive in Central Valley’s aquifers. While only one banking program has been affected so far, the emergence of this…
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