California has $1.5 billion to distribute to cities and local water agencies to help the state cope with increasing aridity and less predictable rainfall. Should at least a third of it go to Los Angeles to boost a historic water recycling project?

That’s an easy “yes.” $500 million in state funding would be a smart investment not just for residents of L.A. but for the entire state.

Much of the runoff from residents’ showers and other household uses currently is channeled to the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey, where 250 million gallons of water per day are separated from all varieties of gunk, cleansed — and then shunted into the ocean, five miles from shore, where it mingles with seawater and is lost to us. City engineers and scientists have spent years preparing to amp up the plant’s cleansing power to turn it into a factory for water that’s pure enough to drink — purer than the stuff that comes from the western slope of the Sierra, through the California Water Project, or from the eastern slope, through William Mulholland’s Los Angeles Aqueduct and its extensions, or from the Rocky Mountains via the Colorado River and Lake Mead.

Those three earlier projects made Southern California into one of the wealthiest and most livable regions of the world, and an economic engine that powers the economies of the state and the nation.

But we over-tapped the natural supply and have to repair the damage by keeping some of that distantly sourced water in place. It also turns out that the last century was a historical anomaly — unusually wet when compared with the millennia recorded in tree rings and geologic evidence. The climate is reverting to its drier norm at least in part because of human action and perhaps as part of the natural order as well. There is less water in Northern California and the Colorado River basin to import.

The defining 21st century water projects are those that will move us beyond imports and allow us to generate enough drought-proof supply for our drinking, showering, irrigating and flushing needs here at home. That means recycling of the kind that can and should be done at Hyperion. And at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys and the Metropolitan Water District’s planned reclamation plant in Carson.

Large-scale recycling would help the state immensely by reducing the need for water from the Sierras or the Rockies, more of which could be left in place for local use and to sustain and restore struggling creeks and rivers and the migrating fish and other wildlife they support.

Hyperion alone, built out to its full potential, could supply 216 million gallons of pure water daily (a fraction will still go into the ocean). That’s a third of the city’s needs — putting the recycling project on the same scale as the last century’s aqueduct projects. It could come online as early as 2035.

But it won’t be cheap. The project known as Operation Next will cost about $16 billion and will need multiple sources of funding.

Much of the cost will be in the technology and energy needed to cleanse the water and to prepare storage underground in the northern San Fernando Valley. But a large portion of the cost will tackle one of the great challenges of Hyperion, which sits at sea level.

Much of L.A.’s imported water currently enters the Valley from higher elevations and can be distributed around the basin by gravity and pressure. That’s how wastewater flows to Hyperion as well. To distribute the recycled water, it has to be moved north again, against gravity, so that it can flow south. It will have to be pumped, and doing so will require more energy than what is currently sucked up by the state’s greatest single electricity user — the pumps that lift Northern California water over the Tehachapi mountains into the southern part of the state.

But L.A. is planning to do that — without fossil fuels or emissions.

Even with these costs, this project will still be cheaper than desalination, more productive and cost-effective than above-ground reservoirs, more reliable than imports, and better for Northern California than the alternatives — which include thirsty L.A. residents pulling up stakes and settling down where the water is now (move over, Sacramentans!).

L.A. is ready to do this, if it gets the money. In this year of budget surplus and deepening water crisis, the state has the money. It should invest it here, where it will do the most good for the most people, up and down the state.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

MOSS LANDING – Off an unmarked dead-end road surrounded by farmworkers harvesting strawberries just north of Moss Landing on Thursday, Ignacio Garcia stood on his cement driveway near a dozen or so five-gallon plastic bottles of water. The water is needed, he explained, because his own well is contaminated.

“Everyone should have clean water,” Garcia said through a Spanish interpreter. “Water is a right. We all need clean water.”

Garcia, who has become an advocate for his community, is far from alone. When the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board began testing wells in the area in 2018, groundwater contamination was bad enough to warrant periodic testing of 44,000 wells in the region. Back in 2014, of 1,627 domestic wells tested in some areas, more than 40% exceeded public health drinking water standards for one particular contaminant – nitrate. As more wells are tested today, that percentage continues to trouble water officials.

Five-gallon bottles of water line the driveway to Ignacio Garcia’s home because his well water is too contaminated to drink. (Dennis Taylor — Monterey Herald correspondent) 

Nitrate is a by-product of agricultural fertilizers, treated sewage and waste from livestock. There are several health risks associated with nitrate, but the principal one is infant methemoglobinemia, more commonly known as “blue baby syndrome.” In infants afflicted with the condition, the way nitrate bonds with red blood cells prevents the absorption of oxygen. The lack of oxygen causes the skin of babies to turn blue, thus the name.

These wells in northern Monterey County are not part of a larger water system that can filter out most of the contaminants. Most of the wells are private or shared wells. The problem wells are most often in disadvantaged areas, including farmworker communities.

In Garcia’s well, the nitrate level has been recorded at six times the drinking water standard set by the state. Some wells in Monterey County exceed 10 times the standard. That is what brought Laurel Firestone and Sean Maguire to Moss Landing Thursday. Firestone and Maguire are members of the state Water Quality Control Board.

On Thursday Firestone and Maguire stood on Garcia’s driveway flanked by a half-dozen representatives of regional water agencies and nonprofit organizations who are all collaborating to find long-term solutions to water contamination in the wells of these low-income communities of color. Advocates say this well contamination is not just about chemicals in water, but also about social justice and equity.

“I am so impressed with community leaders I met today who are working hard to ensure everyone has access to safe drinking water in their area, and taking on the vision of a regional consolidation with their neighbors,” Firestone said after the tour. “These kinds of drinking water projects can be complex and expensive, but they are often the best way to ensure resiliency and safe drinking water for the long term.”

Mayra Hernandez, a community solutions advocate for the nonprofit Community Water Center who was part of Thursday’s Moss Landing visit by the state water officials, said long-term solutions will need to be achieved through a collaboration among several interests, particularly for funding for consolidating these rural communities with larger water systems with the capabilities to remove the contaminants.

She noted 2019 legislation known as the “Safer Fund” that will provide $1.4 billion over 10 years. The fund, called the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience, or SAFER, targets disadvantaged communities struggling with contamination problems. The Moss Landing community, with roughly 80 connections, is one of 210 statewide that is on the radar for funding for consolidation with larger water systems.

Brandon Bollinger with Community Water Center explains a pilot filtration system to officials from the state Water Quality Control Board Thursday. (Dennis Taylor — Monterey Herald correspondent) 

“Now it’s a matter of making sure those funds go to the communities that need it first,” she said. “Ten years of the Human Right to Water Act, but we’re still not there. We need safe, clean, affordable and accessible water for all. We’re working alongside community leaders to make these projects a reality, and we look forward to working with stakeholders to streamline processes to implement solutions as soon as possible.”

Fifteen minutes north of Garcia’s home, on a steep unnamed road climbing into the hills east of the town of Las Lomas – a community of roughly 4,000 residents 7 miles northwest of Prunedale – are homes with worn wooden fences covered with chicken wire and an occasional dog asleep on a dirt driveway.

On Thursday, Roberto Ramirez and neighbor Enrique Sorano stood on Ramirez’s driveway describing the challenges they are experiencing with contaminants. While excessive nitrate is found in many of the rural areas of northern Monterey County, there are a number of others that are a threat to human health.Naturally occurring heavy metals like chromium 6 that is known to cause cancer, and arsenic, also a known carcinogen, are present in Ramirez’s Sorano’s well water. Many of the families in that area are receiving emergency bottled water. And if those contaminants weren’t enough, some of the wells are testing for excessive levels of a compound called 1,2,3,-Trichloropropane, or TCP for short. It is found in industrial waste sites and more relevant to Monterey County, in agricultural pesticides.

Ramirez led the group to the side of his property past more than a dozen crowing roosters to a series of tanks and piping. Brandon Bollinger, the community advocacy manager for the Community Water Center, explained to Firestone and Maguire that the filtration system is part of a pilot program to help residents.Bollinger said many of the rural residents his nonprofit serves are unaware of what’s in their water. They may have heard the well water isn’t healthy to drink but in the past they knew little about what was in it or the health effects it can have.

“That’s one of the things we’ve stepped in to help with,” he said.

Testing has been key to identifying dangerous well water. Matt Keeling, the executive officer of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, was one of the first to develop a well testing program for the rural areas.

His regional board is one charged with enforcement of water contamination issues. But it can be complicated. “Dischargers,” as he calls polluters, can be difficult to pin down as it’s extremely hard to find a specific agricultural grower when runoff goes into larger bodies of water or percolates down into aquifers. Part of the cost of the short- and long-term fixes are coming from the agriculture industry.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Clean drinking water has finally been hooked up to homes on Indian Road in Cowichan Tribes, after residents lived with brown and smelly water for over three decades.

For Bubba Qwulshemut, it marked a significant milestone.

He’s lived on the street for 30 years, has never felt safe drinking the water from his home’s taps and says raising his children proved to be a challenge, because they had to bathe, brush their teeth and cook with bottled water all their lives.

According to Qwulshmut, the water that ran through their taps was brown and plainly “gross” and smelly. “First thing I noticed, it was fizzing. Just like ginger ale pop,” he told CHEK News.

Another resident, Adrienne Peter, remembers it “being a brown, like dark colour.”

They were one of 30 households on Indian Road living like this and now, Peter, who is a mother of four herself, is finally able to wash her children’s faces with tap water and tell them it’s safe to drink.

“It’s a whole change of life, our whole life has changed,” she said.

Qwulshmut says he was “just about in tears” when he was told he could turn the tap on and drink from it. “It’s just kind of like, wow, it hits you,” he said.

“[Bubba’s] a pretty big strong man and he was choked up in tears, you know, we all were,” noted Peter.

The clean drinking water comes following funding from the federal government that the band had been appealing for, for years.

“The first homes here were built in the 1940s and 1950s. So, as far back as that, they’ve never had access to clean drinking water,” said Cowichan Tribes community health nurse Nilak Ironhawk-Tommy.

“You know, we’re just across the bridge from downtown Duncan. You wouldn’t think that there are communities so close.”

On Friday, Qwulshemut led drumming, dancing and singing to celebrate this community’s milestone. “I’m just thankful to get it,” he exclaimed.

However, there are still 25 homes to go.

“You know, our people can’t drink the water or bathe their babies in the water. You know, I can’t even imagine,” said Ironhawk-Tommy.

“Especially in this day and age, 2022, everyone should have clean running water, but we don’t,” added Cowichan Tribes member Laura Antoine.

Cowichan Tribes’ homes on Riverbottom, Botwood and Miller roads are next, but officials say there is no timeline on when those families can trust their water is safe to drink.

Editorial Policies

Report an Error

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

By Stacia Strong, Coastal Federation

With the summer season still in full swing, many people are headed to the coast to cool off in the water.

Before you dive in, stop and think: Just how clean is that water? Experts tell the Coastal Federation’s Stacia Strong that there are many things that can impact water quality, and that often people don’t even realize how much they affect it.

“Everything from commercial to recreational fishing, to oyster growers, to the tourism industry, all of it is really dependent on clean water,” says Lauren Kolodij, North Carolina Coastal Federation Assistant Director.

However, many people may not fully understand how their actions at their homes, on the roads, and out on the water all affect water’s quality.

“Water quality for people has lots of different ways it manifests itself so you have water quality in that it’s clean enough to drink and you also have water quality in the sense of clean enough for ecosystems to function as they need to and all of those things directly benefit people,” says Dr. Mike Piehler a professor at UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences.

He’s spent years researching and studying water quality.

“Your water quality isn’t generally a problem until it’s a bigger problem and so people don’t people don’t have a sense of the cumulative impacts that smaller changes that they could make to enhance and sustain water quality,” he says.

Water quality doesn’t just become degraded from heavy boat traffic, or even littering while out on the water. It actually starts further away from the coast.

“I think you’d be surprised because it can be something as small as somebody not picking up after their pet on the street or sidewalk to discharging major pollutants like sewage or something, now that doesn’t happen very often, but then it’s really everything we do, it could be activities in a marina, it could be activities out on a boat,” says Piehler.

Experts say it doesn’t have to be all bad news — since all of these impacts are things we can control, including one of the biggest culprits responsible for affecting water quality: Storm water runoff.

“When the rain hits hard surfaces like a parking lot or a ditched and drained farm field so really it’s taking all of that activity we do on land again like pet waste and flushing it into the water,” he says.

Constructing rain gardens, building permeable surfaces and other measures can all slow this runoff. Closer to the water, actions like encouraging marinas to take part in the clean marina program can help.

“There has been great success around the clean marina program and having a marina function in a green way is beneficial for sure, but more important still is the education piece of having all of the boaters that go to this marina think of things that they may just not be aware of, that people just don’t know that can be problematic for water quality,” says Piehler.

For more information on how to reduce your own runoff, take a look at NCCoast.org.

More On This

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Support local journalism: Find offers for new subscribers here: Special Offers — FLORIDA TODAY.

Want to read our e-Edition? Here are some tips for getting the best experience. 

Many areas of Brevard County have reclaimed water available, which is a great way to water the lawn. The cost of reclaimed water is less than potable water, and we need to conserve our potable water.

The difference between city and reclaimed water is important to understand so that reclaimed water is used properly, and fertilization is done correctly.

Reclaimed water is a great water source for the lawn and ornamental plants because it is domestic wastewater that has been treated to remove solids and some impurities, plus it has been disinfected. After the treatment is complete, the water is clean enough to discharge into a nearby stream, wetland or ocean and is often piped back to residential, commercial or industrial users.  

Reclaimed water in the landscape is a useful way to recycle it, thereby conserving potable water. Even though reclaimed water cannot be used for drinking, it is being used throughout both the United States and the world to water lawns and crops, to recharge groundwater and in industrial processes.

Reclaimed water is used extensively for watering lawns and landscapes, irrigating golf courses, parks and highway medians, as well as in agriculture for irrigating food crops. Additional uses include filling fountains and ponds, washing cars, flushing toilets and cleaning streets. The use of potable water for all these purposes not only is more expensive but also wasteful. Drinking water is more expensive because of the safety requirements it must meet for consumption.

An important difference between potable drinking water and reclaimed water is that reclaimed water may contain higher levels of salts, the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Florida has had reclaimed water available for more than 40 years.

More:Culinary herbs can beautify your landscape, enhance your meals | Sally Scalera

More:Sally Scalera: Here’s what to do in your Brevard yard during August

More:Sweet! August means celebrating honey bees; here’s how to them to you Space Coast yard

The Brevard County Natural Resources Management Office determined that all the reclaimed water sources within the county are supplying enough nitrogen and phosphorus to maintain a lawn, so no additional fertilizer applications of those nutrients are needed.

More information can be found on Brevard County’s reclaimed water on this website. soirl-brevardbocc.hub.arcgis.com. Click on the “Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan” link, then click tab 6 to find out more about reclaimed water and to see a map of all the areas within the county that have reclaimed water available.  

Also keep this in mind: Do not over-water any zone, because once the nitrogen and phosphorus move down through the soil, past the roots, the nutrients will end up in the groundwater, which will carry them to either the Indian River Lagoon or the St. Johns River.

When watering lawns, apply ½ to ¾ inch of water each time the irrigation runs. During Daylight Savings Time that is twice a week, and through the winter, only once a week at most. To determine how much you are watering now, place tuna fish or cat food cans throughout each zone and measure how much water is in each can after the irrigation is complete.

Reclaimed water is not considered safe to use as the irrigation source for vegetable gardens and possibly fruit shrubs and trees. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection states that reclaimed water should not be directly applied to the surfaces of vegetables or other edible crops that are not peeled or cooked, such as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and kale.

Typical irrigation systems that have oscillating or pop-up heads that spray the water over a large area could be a problem for edible plants, especially low-growing vegetables, and possibly fruit-producing shrubs.  An easy solution to that problem would be to set up a micro-irrigation system to distribute the water below the plants to just water the soil. 

Micro-irrigation can be designed to fit any area, small or large, is easy to set up and modify, and the supplies are sold at local garden centers.

Mature fruit trees that produce their fruit above the reach of oscillating irrigation heads and fruit that is peeled, such as citrus, avocado and mango, will be fine to irrigate with reclaimed water.

Reclaimed water is a great resource for those who have it available to them, but there are some cautions that go along with it. Awareness of those cautions and taking the necessary steps to mitigate any potential problems is easy once you know your options.

For anyone interested in the complete scoop on reclaimed water, search for our bulletin on Reclaimed Water Use in the Landscape: Frequently Asked Questions about Reclaimed Water at edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Email [email protected].

Support local journalism: Find offers for new subscribers here: Special Offers — USATodayNetwork.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Various humanitarian organizations continue to leverage cryptocurrencies in a bid to offer equitable opportunities for communities by funding different projects. Notably, the use of crypto offers room for instant transactions and coordination of aid delivery. 

Indeed, the Built With Bitcoin Foundation director of philanthropy Yusuf Necessary confirmed that the organization had completed a project that provides clean water to over 1,000 Nigerian villagers in a tweet posted on August 18.

The initiative was fully funded through community Bitcoin (BTC) donations with a cumulative cost of $6,000 in BTC.

During the installation of the water well in the Igbaruku community, Kogi state residents had an opportunity to experience how Bitcoin operates. At the same time, the humanitarian organization provided Bitcoin education to the residents in the local language.

The water well project in Igbaruku community. Source: Bitcoin Magazine

Using Bitcoin for humanitarian aid 

The donations towards the project were initiated during the 2022 Bitcoin Conference. Notably, Built With Bitcoin Foundation is a non-profit organization that leverages Bitcoin to collaborate with local communities and partners to provide access to clean water, quality education, and nutritious food.

“Thanks to the donations collected at this year’s Bitcoin Conference, this community in Nigeria has a new water system to keep them hydrated and healthy—allowing them to thrive in school, work, and life,” said Yusuf.

Following the project’s completion in May, residents have access to clean water, solving challenges like reducing risks associated with water-borne diseases. 

Additionally, the foundation also built a school in Kenya in partnership with Paxful, a peer-to-peer crypto exchange platform. 

Overall, Built With Bitcoin works by attempting to solve some of the pain points associated with traditional foundations, like high overhead costs and inefficiencies in managing donor funds. 

Currently, the Built With Bitcoin structure ensures that 92% of donations are directly channeled towards the specific project while 8% covers administrative costs. Other related expenses, such as staff salaries, are covered by a separate grant fund.

Featured Image via Built With Bitcoin Foundation

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

With more than two dozen First Nation communities in Canada still under drinking water advisories, two Indigenous business leaders are doing their part to change that.

“We wanted to create awareness of what was going on in our communities and what’s still going on,” Tyson Wesley, co-owner of FN Clean Water in Ottawa, told CTV National News.

Driven by his own experiences with drinking water advisories, Wesley and fellow company co-owner Natasha Commanda run FN Clean Water, with the goal of bringing clean drinking water to First Nations.

The company sells cans of water sourced from natural springs in Lanark, Ont., southwest of Ottawa.

Part of the proceeds go to support the charity Water First, which runs a Drinking Water Program aimed at helping young Indigenous adults become water treatment plant operators.

As of July 18, there were 31 long-term drinking water advisories in 27 First Nation communities, figures from the federal government show.

Some, such as Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario, have been under a long-term drinking water advisory for nearly three decades.

The Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have promised since 2015 to end the advisories.

Although the federal government has lifted 135 long-term drinking water advisories since November 2015, its latest figures show it also added 66 advisories during that time.

Wesley grew up in the remote northern Ontario community of Kashechewan, which dealt with high levels of E. coli in its water 17 years ago.

“Our whole community had sores, lesions on our bodies, and we were eventually evacuated because of our water,” he said.

The company is still in its early stages and its owners say they hope to get more retailers involved.

Commanda said a lot more tourists are coming to Ottawa now, which could help spread awareness about the company and Canada’s ongoing water advisories.

“It causes harm to our people and it’s a very important issue that we should all have clean, safe drinking water, and everyone deserves it,” Commanda said.

With files from CTV News

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

The Water Guys North is not only providing water testing solutions to its residential and commercial clients but also supplying suitable water disinfection and conditioning systems.

The Water Guys North specializes in the engineering and design of the most appropriate systems for people’s needs for safe and clean water. The contractor has a team of experienced professionals who help its clients in every aspect of their pure water requirements. The Water Guys North offers high-quality systems for water purification, regardless of whether the water is a lake, municipal, river or well. The contractor is fully insured and licensed while holding a Ministry of Environment (MOE) Well Construction and Pump Installer contractor license.

In a recently held industry meeting, the spokesperson of The Water Guys North asserted, “We offer everything, from pumps and water supply systems to water conditioning and water testing solutions. Generally, people do not understand that when it comes to pumps, there are numerous options available to them. Sizing a pump properly, for example, is crucial for optimal operation. We are well versed and experts in helping our clients choose the most effective and complete systems, from source to glass.”

The Water Guys North performs water potability testing that includes checks for hardness, iron, manganese, pH, TDS, tannins, UVT, alkalinity, and chlorine. The contractor additionally tests the pumping rates, inspects the water wells, assesses the full supply and treatment, and provides written water analysis reports. To its residential and commercial clients, the contractor also provides water treatment and supply consultation. The Water Guys North gives them proper advice and upgrades on their existing water conditioning and treatment systems.

The spokesperson further informed, “As an authorized dealer with Viqua, Novo, Goulds, Grundfos, Duro and Berkeley, we can provide the best products and services to our clients. There are no water needs that we cannot meet. On our online store, people can find a wide range of UV disinfection systems that are fit for their homes or cottages. These systems are perfect solutions for protecting against bacteria. We have models like Excelight 6 GPM Home UV System, which feature all stainless-steel construction, as well as audible and visual alarms.”

With the affordable disinfection systems from The Water Guys North, people may not need to worry about the cost of UV water treatment system. The contractor also supplies the UV lamps, UV sleeves and other UV accessories from brands like Viqua and UV Dynamics. Apart from that, The Water Guys North carries pressure tanks and contact tanks, specialty systems for water conditioning, water softeners, filter cartridges and housings, and reverse osmosis filters and systems. The range of pumps available on its online store includes constant pressure systems, wastewater pumps, submersible pumps, hand pumps, and jet pumps.

About The Water Guys North:

The Water Guys North is a leading Canadian water company that supplies water filtration, disinfection and conditioning systems for homes and other facilities in more than 50 countries. The contractor also performs water operations like well inspections and water treatment. Whether people want to go for the foot valve or lake pump replacement or they want to do well upgrades, the contractor supports them with all their clean water requirements.

Contact Information:

The Water Guys North

311 Harrison Drive, Unit E,

Greater Sudbury, ON P3E 5E1

Phone: +1 (705) 586-7666 / 1-844-297-8940

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.thewaterguysnorth.com/

HOURS

Mon – Fri: 8 am – 4:30 pm

Media Contact
Company Name: The Water Guys North
Email: Send Email
Phone: (705) 586-7666
Address:311 Harrison Drive, Unit E
State: P3E 5E1 ON
Country: Canada
Website: http://www.thewaterguysnorth.com/

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Araceli Sanabria migrated to the United States 16 years ago from Michoacan, Mexico. She says the water in Fresno is worse than that of her hometown. Here, her hair falls out when she washes it in the shower. But, she continues to pay a high price for it.

“We are paying more than $120 a month for our water bill even though we can’t drink from our taps,” she says in Spanish. Sanabria has no choice but to continuously purchase water bottles, which is an added cost that her family can barely afford. “Honestly, we don’t keep track of how many [water] bottles we buy. But 40 gallons of water goes quickly, especially in the summer.”

California enshrined the right to clean and affordable water a decade ago, but Sanabria is just one in a million Californians who don’t have access to clean water in their homes. Earlier this month, she and about 50 other Valley residents traveled to Sacramento to pressure lawmakers to strengthen their access to water. They were led by Susana de Anda, the cofounder of the Community Water Center.

“Our hardworking families are paying twice for water,” De Anda said in a speech at the steps of the state capitol.

The protestors support three bills, including one that would establish a water rate assistance program to help low-income families, like Sanabria’s, pay their monthly bills.

“On top of that, families have to worry that their children do not swallow the water they use to brush their teeth because they can get sick, that is not okay,” De Anda said.

Some Central Valley wells are running dry

A recent audit by the California State Water Resources Control Board found that much of the water in rural areas is contaminated with nitrates and other harmful chemicals. Sanabria knows this all too well.

“Lead appeared in my children’s blood tests because of the water quality in our home,” Sanabria says. “We can’t drink from our faucet because it’s not safe. It reeks of chlorine.”

Other protestors spoke about their wells running dry. Michael Torres lives in Tombstone Territory, a small community outside of Sanger. He says he and his neighbors first noticed their wells running low when growers started pumping their water in 2016.

“They’re pumping everybody’s water to plant their vegetables and their trees and everything,” Torres says.

When his pump went out a few years ago, he got his well checked and was told there was enough water to last him years. But it ran dry 10 months later. Since then, he’s had 2,500 gallons of water delivered to his home each week.

“That’s how we’re surviving right now,” he says. “Without that, we would not have water.”

Torres could dig a new well, as a couple of his neighbors have, but it would cost him the steep price of $35,000.

“Do you want to spend all that money?” Torres says. “And then a year, year and a half later, it goes dry and you’re in the hole?”

Valley protestors support three water-related bills

Assemblymember Steve Bennett introduced Assembly Bill 2201, which would help out residents like Torres.

“My bill requires the counties to go to the groundwater agencies and make sure that wells will not hurt other domestic neighboring wells,” Bennet said to the protesters at the rally.

Many agricultural organizations are against this bill. Danny Merkeley at the California Farm Bureau says that because the bill primarily regulates new well permits, it wouldn’t help rural communities that are seeing their existing wells run dry.

“The people that are going to be impacted the very most by this are the smallest growers, the smallest farmers and ranchers,” Merkeley says of AB 2201.

The solution, he says, already exists. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, aims to stop groundwater pumping in overdrafted wells by 2040.

“If somebody is pumping and it’s impacting a community’s drinking water, then that’s another issue that needs to be dealt with. And SGMA will over time,” Merkeley says.

But De Anda with the Community Water Center says residents can’t wait.

“If you also believe clean water is a basic human right, that should never be a privilege. If you yourself need to have safe drinking water to survive. This is your fight. We’re fighting your fight,” De Anda said at the rally.

Lawmakers are expected to vote on this legislation at the end of the month.

This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative, which is supported by the Central Valley Community Foundation with technology and training support by Microsoft Corp.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Troops and families at remote Fort Hunter Liggett on California’s rugged Central Coast have been without clean drinking water in their taps since the evening of Aug. 11, when a routine water system maintenance check went wrong, cracking a valve and rupturing a 12-inch water main.

Officials initially shut off water to the entire post, which is also currently battling a wildfire in a training area, to prevent a catastrophic failure, the garrison’s top enlisted soldier, Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Rupp, said in a Friday phone interview with Army Times.

Within hours of the water shutoff, drinking water trailers, known as “water buffalo,” from Camp Roberts, a 40-minute drive away, and portable toilets arrived on post, Rupp said. Residents also realized that their geothermal-powered air conditioners wouldn’t function without water — though temperatures have been cool in recent days.

About 90% of the post has regained running water that can be used for bathing but isn’t yet safe to drink without boiling, though one housing area has no water at all. Rupp said the 47 families who live there faced “mandatory relocation” to other on-post housing or hotels.

Approximately 500 personnel permanently live at the Army Reserve post overseen by Installation Management Command, which features sprawling training areas. The installation also hosts between a few hundred and a few thousand servicemembers for training — ranging from individual courses to drill weekends and unit annual trainings — at any given time.

The Hacienda, a historic hotel at Fort Hunter Liggett, California, pictured on January 10, 2018. (Cindy McIntyre/Army)

According to Rupp, the fort’s public works division is assessing the damage to the housing area’s water system in order to begin repairs. Water quality tests are currently pending to see if the water in the taps elsewhere is safe to drink, he added.

It’s not clear when the issue will be resolved, though Rupp said that officials hope to have clean water across the entire post by Aug. 30. Garrison officials communicated that to residents in a pair of town hall meetings.

Rupp noted that the incident did not affect the wildfire response, which has included an Army Reserve firefighter unit whose annual training plans happened to coincide with a real-life wildfire. The Los Bueyes Fire is now 90% contained, according to an email from installation spokesperson Augusta Vargas.

How are residents and training affected?

On-post families were offered voluntary relocation to hotels, though troops in training had to stay. Some personnel were allowed to telework as needed.

The sergeant major added that the training population there is “pretty low” currently after a summer surge of part-time units doing annual training. No units have changed their training plans for the coming weeks, he said.

Parts of the installation had running water by Saturday evening, according to an all-caps Facebook post that ordered residents “NOT [TO] DRINK THE WATER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER.”

That warning since been replaced by a boil water notice for areas where service has resumed.

The water outage led the post to close its dining facility last week, leaving the post’s training population with only prepackaged rations — MREs — to eat. Rupp said the facility has reopened to serve pre-packaged meals until the water is confirmed to be safe for cooking.

The on-post daycare also closed due to the water issues, said Rupp. It’s poised to reopen Monday.

Fort Hunter Liggett isn’t the only military installation to suffer water-related issues in recent months.

The Navy faced criticism after a fuel spill at the Red Hill fuel storage facility in Hawaii tainted the water supply, sickening thousands of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham residents and forcing around 4,000 families to relocate. The Defense Department decided to close the fuel facility under pressure from state authorities.

And in December, a brief lead scare led officials at Fort Benning, Georgia, to close its NCO academy temporarily.

Davis Winkie is a senior reporter covering the Army, specializing in accountability reporting, personnel issues and military justice. He joined Military Times in 2020. Davis studied history at Vanderbilt University and UNC-Chapel Hill, writing a master’s thesis about how the Cold War-era Defense Department influenced Hollywood’s WWII movies.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here