• Some cities like Chicago have excellent tap water; most cities have good or mediocre tap water; yet several cities--such as Albuquerque, Fresno, and San Francisco--have water that is sufficiently contaminated so as to pose potential health risks to some consumers, particularly to pregnant women, infancts, children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems... (P.1.)
  
  
• Citizens have a right to know whether their drinking water is safe, as mandated in the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. This law required water suppliers to notify the public of dangers in tap water and inform people about the overall health of their watershed. Instead, in many cases, right-to-know reports have become propoganda for water suppliers, and the enormous promise of right-to-know reports has not been achieved.
  
  
• NRDC's research revealed that the quality of cities' annual right-to-know reports varied widely: more than half the cities surveyed had reports that were, at the very least, partially successful tools for consumer education; however, some, like Fresno...were less than direct, burying, obscuring, and even omitting findings about health effects of contaminants in city water supplies, printing misleading statements, and violating a number of right-to-know requirements. (P. 28.).
  
  For example:
  
  Fresno buried health warnings for pregnant women regarding nitrates at elevated levels in city water.
  
  Fresno buried mention of city wells exceeding drinking water standards for nitrates, 1,2-DCE, cis-1,2-DCE, DBCP, EDB, and TCE.
  
  Fresno incorrectly asserted that Fresno did not violate enforceable standards.
  
  Fresno offered no names or details on specific pollution sources or on health effects of some contaminants. (P.31.)
  
  
  • Regarding radon:
    
    Fresno is in violation of the proposed national standard of radon...Radon in known to cause lung cancer. No amount of it is considered fully safe in tap water; indeed, a single particle of radon can cause cancer. Deaths from lung and stomach cancer are caused by breathing radon released to the air from water and from consuming water that contains radon. In fact, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer deaths in the United States after smoking. (P. 65.)
    
    
  • Regarding Source Water Protection:
    
    Some cities like Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and Denver have at least some well-protected watersheds. Some cities have site-specific burdens. For example, Fresno relies upon wells, many of which have become seriously contaminated by agricultural and industrial pollution, including nitrates... (P.38.)
    
    Elevetated levels of nitrates, which are the product of fertilizers and human or animal waste, are a high concern in regard to Fresno's water. High levels of nitrate contamination also can com from septic tanks and sewers. (P.52.)
    
    Fresno earned a "Threats to Source Water" rating of 6, the worst possible rating. (What's on Tap? Grading Drinking Water in U.S. Cities, 2002, P. 4, Natural Resources Defence Council):
    
    At least 32 Fresno wells have serious contamination problems. The water in those wells must therefore be treated with granular activated carbon at the city's 28 treatment sites, and it must be monitored as often as weekly to determine whether it violates standards.
    
    Fresno's drinking water sources are highly susceptible to contamination by urban runoff and agricultural pollution.
    
    Groundwater contamination in Fresno is a serious problem for the city.

SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH
3:00 PM

Lloyd Carter, President of California Save Our Streams Council and former professor of water law at San Joaquin College of Law hosts a 30-minute program on KFCF, 88.1 FM, focusing on San Joaquin Valley water, environmental and agriculture issues. www.lloydcarter.com

For more information on San Joaquin Valley water issues see:
www.c-win.org, www.revivethesanjoaquin.org, www.badlandsjournal.com, & www.communitywatercenter.org .

March 15 -22
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s "Save the Water Committee" is organizing our first Water Week to be observed March 15-22. March 22 is International Water Day and we would like to have events taking place each day of the week to remind and educate everyone on the importance of our water...OUR water. So far two events are planned. On March 2oth the Cineculture Series, headed by WILPFer Mary Husain, will show FLOW (For Love Of Water) at California State University Fresno, with Lloyd Carter being the discussant after the film. Several artists have committed to showing water-themed art at the third Thursday Art Hop on March 19th. We welcome ideas for more water-related events during that week. Please contact Jean Hays at 313-7674 with your creative thoughts!

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Groundwater Level Data Retrieval Map Interface

California Department of Water Resources
Division of Planning and Local Assistance

This map provides access to individual water well data. Click on one of the red symbols on the map below to retrieve a hydrograph and tabular listing of the data for that well. If no symbols appear on the map, then no water level data are available for that area. Data may also be obtained using our text interface.

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ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR PLAN TO RESTORE THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER

On February 2, 2006, Environment California Research & Policy Center was joined by the Tehipite Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Revive the San Joaquin, in calling for the cleanup of the San Joaquin River, as required under the original Clean Water Act more than thirty years ago and again under recent U.S. EPA policy. Pictured, left to right, are Richard Sloan of the Tehipite Chapter of the Sierra Club and organizer of RiverTree Volunteers Incorporated, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to maintenance of the San Joaquin River watershed; Jeannette Gayer, of Environment California Research & Policy Center; and George Folsom, Chairman, Revive the San Joaquin. Contact information and resources: Richard Sloan, (559) 696-2971, RiverRich1509@aol.com Jeannette Gayer, (703) 475-3228, jennette@environmentcalifornia.org George Folsom, (559) 486-5222, gjfolsom@sbcglobal.net, www.revivethesanjoaquin.org. Tehipite Chapter of the Sierra Club Environment California Revive the San Joaquin: The documentary, "Tales of the San Joaquin," and a Power Point presentation on the San Joaquin River Basin Storage are available at this site. For a copy of A Clean Water Future for California: The Historic Opportunity for California’s Water Boards to Clean Up Nine of the State’s Biggest Polluted Rivers, Bays and Lakes, click on www.environmentcalifornia.org

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Water Science for Schools tells the story of where, how much, and in what forms water exists on Earth.