[env-trinity] On Water, CA's Real Water War

[Patrick Truman]

      Open Forum
      On Water
      California's real water war
      Laurel Firestone,Amy Vanderwarker

      Monday, August 27, 2007

       

      Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, environmentalists and water districts have waded hip-deep into arguments over new dams, pricey canals and other ways to manage future water wars in California.

      But the looming water crisis that the governor warns of is already here. 

      Hundreds of small, rural communities throughout California's agricultural heartland have no access to clean, safe drinking water. It's a public health crisis that threatens California families every day.

      According to the state Department of Public Health, public drinking water systems deliver water with unsafe levels of contaminants to approximately 1 million people. The vast majority of this tainted water flows to the Central Valley - to little-known towns such as Monterey Park Tract, Mendota, Parlier, East Orosi, Cutler and Alpaugh - where residents can't fill a glass of tap water without fear of cancer, kidney disease and other health problems. These are some of our state's poorest towns, where median household incomes hover around $18,000. But they pay some of the highest water rates in California - 2 to 6 percent of their household income - for undrinkable water.

      In 2004 alone, tens of thousands of Central Valley residents received bright orange notices from their public drinking water systems saying their water was not safe to drink and exceeded legal contaminant levels. Many Central Valley residents drive 30 to 50 miles each week just to buy bottled water, effectively doubling the price for this basic need. 

      More than 90 percent of Central Valley communities depend on water stored underground for their drinking water. Unfortunately, years of intensive farming with uncontrolled chemical use has heavily poisoned that source. Recent groundwater sampling in Tulare County found that 3 out of 4 homes with private wells have contaminated water that is unsafe to drink. 

      California's agricultural heartland offers a bounty of crops, from cotton to almonds to dairy products. But Central Valley industries also pour forth a darker bounty: a vast array of water contaminants, including nitrates from fertilizer use and mega-dairy waste and pesticide components, such as DBCP - a chemical banned for causing cancer and harming men's reproductive systems that still appears in Central Valley wells. These contaminants mix with water used to irrigate crops and wash cows and then seeps into the Central Valley's groundwater. When people in neighboring communities drink this water, they consume known carcinogens and acute poisons, such as nitrates, which can kill infants in a matter of days. 

      When contaminant levels spike or wells fail, no large water agency stands ready to come fix broken treatment systems. Most of these small communities must shoulder the costs alone, paying for expensive maintenance and operations out of the lean budgets of a couple of hundred farmworker families.

      These contamination and infrastructure problems have grown unchecked since development in the Central Valley began. Virtually every water agency ignores California's massive groundwater contamination problem. Regulatory agencies such as the state and regional Water Quality Control boards have given a green light to rampant agricultural pollution. California and Texas remain the only states in the country without a groundwater management program. 

      Meanwhile, the state has developed an elaborate and expensive system to pipe crystal-clear Northern California river water to Central Valley farms, at taxpayer expense. The vast webs of canals and aqueducts, subsidized by public dollars, bring water to Central Valley farms. Fresh, clean water flows right by the homes of men and women who harvest the irrigated fields, but have no access to safe drinking water. 

      Without the ability to hire highly paid staffers and lobbyists, farm families find their voices drowned out by the raging debates about California water. They continually fall through the cracks of local, state and regional planning. 

      Instead of talking about future water needs, we need to talk about the chronic lack of access to clean drinking water Central Valley residents face every day. Instead of spending billions of dollars on building new reservoirs, let's talk about protecting one of California's largest existing reservoirs - our groundwater. 

      California water agencies can start by making a serious commitment to groundwater protection and management. The largest sources of groundwater contamination in the Central Valley - agriculture and dairies - are virtually unregulated. Agriculture is allowed to discharge waste water that does not meet Clean Water Act standards, while virtually every other industry must meet these basic water quality standards. This highly toxic water then contaminates the source of drinking water for many small communities. 

      The state could play a lead role in developing innovative solutions and projects to address the problem. Right now, regulatory and water resource agencies acknowledge the level of contamination but have refused to take action.

      Many organizations have developed projects and proposals that would take important steps to relieving the drinking water crisis, such as requiring groundwater management plans of industries and agencies, setting aside state funds to address the contamination and requiring water districts to work with communities that do not have clean drinking water in their area to develop alternative water sources. Unfortunately, most of these programs fall apart as soon as industry objects and then the state shirks its duty, saying the problem is too big, unwieldy or out of its jurisdiction. Time and again, we have seen agencies, legislators, and policymakers fail to take meaningful action on groundwater protection and management, because it is a tough issue.

      The governor is right. We do need to invest in California's water infrastructure. The place to start should be obvious for such a golden state: ensuring all communities have safe, clean and affordable drinking water.

      Laurel Firestone is co-director of the Community Water Center, based in Visalia. Amy Vanderwarker is the outreach coordinator for the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, based in Oakland. They will be participating in a panel discussion on water and social justice as part of the Commonwealth Club's Cool Clear Water series on Aug. 30th. More information is available at www.commonwealthclub.org/water 
     
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