Tag Archive for: Water Quality

Californians With Bad Water Ask For Help While Opposition Mounts To Newsom’s Proposed Tax

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Maddy Ashmun

Californians with unhealthy drinking water pleaded for help from lawmakers this week but opposition quickly developed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to pay for system improvements with a new fee. “We just upped our water rates, and to turn around and give them a tax on their meter is just not feasible,” said Maxine Israel, director at the Cabazon Water District, which serves about 2,500 customers near Palm Springs.

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Boil Water Advisory Issued for Campo-Area Community in East County

/in , /by /10 News (San Diego)

A boil water advisory was issued Friday for the Lake Morena County Park water distribution system in a rural community northwest of Campo. The drinking water system at 2550 Lake Morena Drive tested positive for E. Coli bacteria, which indicates the water may be contaminated with human or animal waste, according to the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health. The drinking water distribution system serves recreational camping and RV sites, cabins, staff housing and public restrooms and showers in the Lake Morena Village community.

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Hot Weather, Land Abuses Fueling Algal Blooms In Western Waters

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

The West is known for summer wildfires. Now it seems Western summers will be distinguished by another kind of flare-up: algae blooms. This summer has witnessed an explosion of algae problems in Western water bodies. Usually marked by a bright green mat of floating scum, the blooms are unsightly and unpleasant for water lovers. More concerning are potentially toxic cyanobacteria often produced by the algae, which can be deadly to pets and livestock and cause illnesses in people. These harmful algal blooms have popped up in freshwater lakes and streams for years.

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California Commission Votes To Eliminate Sativa Water District Over Brown Water Issues

/in , /by /ABC7 (Los Angeles)by Carlos Granda

Compton and Willowbrook residents wanted to make sure their message was heard loud and clear during a hearing. “We should have clean water here,” one resident said. Inside where a meeting was being held, residents told their stories. For months they have complained of brown, murky and smelly water coming out of their taps. “It’s very heartbreaking to see that we get dirty water. But it’s more heartbreaking to get no response from Sativa,” resident Martha Barajas said. There are allegations the district has been mismanaged and it operated without enough oversight.

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Agency That Delivered Brown, Smelly Water To Customers Should Be Dissolved, Board Rules

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Angel Jennings and Ruben Vives

Residents of working-class neighborhoods in Compton and Willowbrook have long fought an uphill battle against their local water district, which over the years has been accused of mismanagement, nepotism, bad service and, most recently, sending brown, smelly water through their taps. Still, Sativa Los Angeles County Water District managed to stay in business. But on Wednesday, residents won a decisive victory when county authorities voted unanimously to dissolve the troubled agency. The action by L.A. County’s Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, kicks off a lengthy and rare process to get rid of a water district.

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Man-Made Fabrics Have State Lawmakers Vying For Warning Tags

/in , /by /Bloomberg Business (New York City, N.Y.)by Lindsey Rupp

Your polyester shirt may soon come with a warning label. Lawmakers in California and New York have proposed state bills this year to raise awareness of a problem few consumers may have heard of — synthetic fabrics shedding microfibers into the water system. Reminiscent of the plastic microbeads that were banned from cosmetics, garments made with polymer-based cloth can release as many as 1,900 microfibers per wash that eventually end up in waterways, one study shows. But research is still at the early stages, and few are in agreement about what the best response is.

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Another Danger From Overpumping Groundwater: Arsenic

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Amel Ahmed

Sinking land caused by intensive groundwater pumping in the San Joaquin Valley is releasing trapped arsenic — a known carcinogen — into aquifers that supply irrigation and drinking water for a million people, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical in the Earth’s crust, is undetectable by the human senses and has been linked to a host of diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Researchers at Stanford University say residents should be concerned about arsenic levels in their water supply.

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Head Of Federal Water Agency Overseeing Efforts To Combat Tijuana Sewage Steps Down

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

The top United States official at the international agency charged with overseeing efforts to stem ongoing water pollution in the Tijuana River Valley stepped down on Friday. The departure of Edward Drusina, former commissioner of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, comes as the agency continues to face legal attacks from South Bay cities that routinely shutter beaches due to pollution from south of the border.

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San Diego Fighting Alone For $400,000 To Cover Water Testing For Lead At Schools

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego is the only city in California seeking state reimbursement for testing the toxic lead levels in water at local schools, which has cost the city’s water agency more than $400,000. The city has done tests at 256 schools since early 2017, but must test another 45 schools over the next six weeks. State legislation requires water agencies to test every public school, regardless of whether the agency gets a request, by July 1. Significantly more schools in San Diego County have been tested than in any other county in California since the state requirement began.

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‘Raw Water’: Californians Paying Big Bucks For Oregon Tap Water

/in , /by /KOIN 6 (Portland, Ore.)by Gabrielle Karol

Unpurified, untreated water is available for sale – for $16 a jug. The so-called “raw water” trend, as initially reported in The New York Times, made it even easier to call Californians crazy. The newspaper reported that the untreated spring water, bottled in glass, was so popular at San Francisco’s Rainbow Grocery that it was often out of stock. The company behind the product – Live Spring Water – says on its website that its “spring water is collected from Opal Spring in Central Oregon.” The website promises that the unfiltered water “goes directly into triple washed and rinsed 2.5 gallon lead free glass jugs.”

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