Posts Tagged: drinking water

Desalination: Should California use the ocean to quench its thirst?

A beach in Carlsbad, San Diego County, which has the nation's largest desalination plant. (Photo: Sherry V Smith, via Shutterstock)

by AARON GILBREATH posted 07.12.2022

Here we are again: California is enduring another punishing drought, this one only a few years after the last one ended, which was the most severe drought in the state’s nearly 500 years of recorded history. Low winter snowpack combined with scorching summer temperatures and the driest winter months in 100 years have severely impacted the state’s water supply. Lake Oroville, an important reservoir in Butte County, had sunk to 49% of capacity by July 1

Court fight could lead to limits on fluoridated drinking water

Illustration by Quentin Lueninghoener, Fair Warning

by DAN ROSS, FairWarning posted 06.08.2020

A federal court trial under way in San Francisco could spell the beginning of the end of water fluoridation in America, potentially affecting drinking water for hundreds of millions of people across the U.S. Although fluoride can occur naturally in water, many water utilities add the chemical with the goal of improving dental health.

More work needed on state’s drinking water crisis

A sign urging protections for drinking water in Yosemite National Park. (Photo: Earl D. Walker, via Shutterstock)

by MARY CREASMAN posted 08.20.2019

OPINION: California has a drinking water crisis. More than 1 million people in California lack access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. 400 schools in our state have lead contamination in their drinking water. About 300 public water systems in our state are not in compliance with drinking water standards. This is a public health and environmental crisis.