Water streams from a hose in Scotts Valley during the 2021 drought. (Photo: Michael Barajas, via Shutterstock)OPINION: While nobody disputes that everyone should have safe, clean drinking water, not every Californian does. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, more than 250 water systems serving 900,000 Californians were out of compliance with drinking water standards in 2020.
A water pathway in California's Central Valley. (Photo: Straight 8 Photography) OPINION: Many Californians know of the lead poisoning in the public water system in Detroit. Very few know of the contaminated water crisis impacting more than 1 million Californians. After years of trying to resolve the failure of the State of California to address this public health challenge, advocates have reached a historic negotiated agreement.
A parched lake bed at Lake Oroville, about 60 miles north of Sacramento. (Photo: sddatta, via Shutterstock)As drought-parched California withers, salt water captures attention – again. Santa Barbara, which built a desalination plan more than 20 years ago and then abruptly shut it down because of costs, is considering upgrading and restarting the project and provide the city of 91,000 with about a fourth of its drinking water. The tentative price tag is $40 million. In Sacramento, the State Water Resources Control Board is poised to adopt new regulations in May governing desalination.
State Sen. Ben Hueso, a San Diego Democrat and the chair of the Senate Labor Committee, was arrested early Friday morning for suspicion of drunken driving after going the wrong way on a one-way street near downtown Sacramento.
The dry bed of Ivanpah Lake in San Barnardino County, which had been filled by the 2004-05 rains. (Photo: Ed Berlen)The governor, up for reelection in November, announced the plan on his campaign web site in an open letter to voters. If approved by lawmakers, it would replace the $11.14 billion water bond scheduled to go before voters in November. That bond, delayed for years, was approved in a bipartisan vote in the Legizslature and signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gov. Brown said today that California, facing an unprecedented drought, needs to “make investments in safe drinking water” and that “recycling, expanded storage and serious groundwater management must all be part of the mix.” The governor did not endorse the $11.14 billion water infrastructure bond on the November ballot, but he did call for investment in water projects similar to those included in the bond. That bond currently is under review in the Legislature with rival proposals to reduce it to $6.5 billion or less.