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<H3>Open Forum</H3></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<H1>On Water</H1>
<H2>California's real water war</H2></DIV>
<P class=byline>Laurel Firestone,Amy Vanderwarker</P>
<P class=date>Monday, August 27, 2007
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<P>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.</P>
<P>But the looming water crisis that the governor warns of is already
here. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.
</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P><I>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 <A
href="http://www.commonwealthclub.org/water">www.commonwealthclub.org/water</A></I>
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