Four of the most common chemical threats to California's drinking water: Nitrates; Hexavalent Chromium; 1,2,3-TCP; and Perchlorate.
On April 15, 2014, the California Department of Public Health (DPH) released the final hexavalent chromium drinking water standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb).
Earth Day has always had a special meaning for me – a birthday for Earth and a call to action to do what we can to protect it. In 1970, I organized the very first Earth Day event at my school in Oakland. Eschewing the bus, I enlisted a crew of friends in a bike caravan to ride 10 miles to school. Alarmed by the oil spills along the coast, and the poisoning of wildlife and humans from DDT, my classmates and I led a day long teach-in. This was the spark that ignited what has become a lifelong career as an activist.
With all that’s happening right now, it can be difficult to pay attention to anything other than the news of the day. I’m focused on groundwater; how we use it – and use too much; how we protect it from pollution – or don’t; and how we can ensure that it’s available when we need it. And even on a day when we’re not focused on a pandemic, groundwater can be easy to forgot about -- it's our invisible resource.
Our California Water Program Manager, Jennifer Clary, moderated a well-attended breakout session at the Green California Summit in Sacramento this morning on "Funding Safe and Affordable Drinking Water."
The problem being discussed: There are more residents in California whose drinking water standards are failing than the entire population of Flint, Michigan.
