“I think it’s from the nitrate,” Chavez says.
According to a 2012 report from UC Davis, in 96 percent of cases where nitrate leaches into groundwater supplies, agricultural operations are at fault.
This is almost certainly how the Chavez family’s well became contaminated.
“It’s shameful,” says Jonathan Nelson, the policy director for the Community Water Center, an organization that has been advocating for people without safe drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley for many years.
Jerry Brown declared he was “committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders” to bring clean, safe, affordable water to all Californians, and he stated much the same thing in this year’s budget address, delivered in January.
Here, the wells that supplied 750 people ran dry during the drought.
Chavez says he has asked to be connected to the same pipe network.
Another report from UC Davis released in March found that most of the people without safe drinking water live near public water systems.
The fund would be created mostly by a 95-cent-per-month addition to household water bills statewide, with 20 percent – $30 million – proposed to come from a tax imposed on agricultural fertilizers that contain nitrogen.
Monning, however, says the general fund, since it gets reallocated every year, is nowhere near reliable enough.

Una serie de proyectos han surgido para redesarrollar las céntricas áreas que rodean a este río.
El temor es que los nuevos parques produzcan una "gentrificación verde."
Whether they are researching the pace of Alaskan glacier melt or measuring the impact of Arctic sea ice changes on our our weather, climate scientists go to some of the most remote areas on Earth to help us understand our environment.
Environmentalists say this gas boon threatens water supplies and pollutes air.
Whether they are researching the pace of Alaskan glacier melt or measuring the impact of Arctic sea ice changes on our our weather, climate scientists go to some of the most remote areas on Earth to help us understand our environment.
Environmentalists say this gas boon threatens water supplies and pollutes air.
Whether they are researching the pace of Alaskan glacier melt or measuring the impact of Arctic sea ice changes on our our weather, climate scientists go to some of the most remote areas on Earth to help us understand our environment.
Environmentalists say this gas boon threatens water supplies and pollutes air.
Whether they are researching the pace of Alaskan glacier melt or measuring the impact of Arctic sea ice changes on our our weather, climate scientists go to some of the most remote areas on Earth to help us understand our environment.
Environmentalists say this gas boon threatens water supplies and pollutes air.

On April 25, 2014, the city of Flint, Mich., suffered one of the greatest tragedies in our nation’s history.
With a declining economy and a growing deficit, Flint began using the Flint River, a waterway with severely dangerous lead levels and contamination, as a water source to lower state costs.
Congress allocated $170 million in federal aid for Flint families, but the people of Flint still face current and long-term challenges to their health and their infrastructure.
As a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, I have called for a thorough update on the allocation and outcome of the of the federal aid package.
Eighty two percent of states have reported dangerous contamination levels in their drinking water.
The American people deserve safe, clean water from their homes, their schools, their jobs and their public spaces.
There is certainly a high cost to fix our infrastructure problems in America.
A plan that would put 80 percent of the burden on states and local government while requiring only 20 percent federal funding is not a plan for success.
The American people need and deserve the support of their federal government.
America needs a comprehensive infrastructure plan to address the impact on our communities and our economy.

What if you couldn’t pay your water bill?
In Detroit in 2014, more than 33,000 homes lost access to water service because residents couldn’t afford the costs.
The problem is ongoing.
Just two months ago, the Detroit Free Press reported that more than 17,000 people in the city are at risk of shut-offs.
In Flint, Michigan, even at the height of the crisis when their drinking water was contaminated with lead, residents paid some of the highest water rates in America.
“If you care about clean water, you need to care about affordability,” says Katie Rousseau, Director of Clean Water Supply in the Great Lakes for American Rivers.
“This is a human rights issue.
People can lose their homes, their children.” “Everyone deserves clean, safe, affordable water,” Rousseau says.
That is why American Rivers is sponsoring “Making Ends Meet: A Workshop on Water Affordability” in Philadelphia, May 30-31.
We are committed to ensuring clean water and healthy rivers for all,” says Rousseau.

During its Tuesday board meeting, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors plan to discuss a legislative proposal that would tax drinking water.
The proposal would essentially tax drinking water — most water district customers would see water bills increase about 95 cents per month — and use that to fund both long- and short-term water infrastructure improvements.
Monning lauded the governor’s move to include the bill in the budget.
“We all applaud the governor’s support for the communities throughout California that do not have access to safe drinking water,” Monning said in a statement earlier this year.
“The problem is real,” he said.
In the district’s official letter of opposition, he voiced concerns about passing on the costs to customers.
“We already have our hands full complying with the plethora of other well-intentioned state mandates that do very little to ensure a safe and reliable water supply,” the letter signed by Hull states.
“As the majority of our community is designated disadvantaged, it goes without saying that the district’s customers have limited resources to support additional mandates.” The McKinleyville Community Services District and the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District also oppose the proposal, according to the Board of Supervisors agenda packet.
Neither agency returned a call for comment from this reporter before the publishing deadline.
“It will fill a gap of covering unmet drinking water needs.” When asked whether it was problematic to ask those who are not affected by a lack of clean drinking water to pay for clean drinking water for others, Bohn said it was a matter of everyone doing their part.

Nova Scotia’s environment minister is set to meet with residents of Harrietsfield, N.S., on Monday to discuss contaminated drinking water in the community — something that one resident says the past four environment ministers refused to do.
Marlene Brown, an outspoken resident says that she hopes the meeting will prompt Minister Iain Rankin — along with other politicians in attendance — to act on the stories they’ll hear.
“What I’d like to see tonight is the environment minister to go back to his department with a game plan.” READ MORE: Harrietsfield contaminated water case adjourned for 12th time The provincial government says the defunct RDM Recycling site in Harrietsfield is leaching contaminants into the groundwater which is reaching the wells of nearby homes.
In 2016, then-environment minister, Margaret Miller, issued cleanup orders to the two numbered companies that operated the site between 2002 and 2013.
St. Paul’s Church is on city water and has provided that water to residents who have contaminated wells.
@globalhalifax pic.twitter.com/9Ix5aZaevk — Alexa MacLean (@AlexaMacLean902) May 14, 2018 On April 28, 2017, Brown filed for a private prosecution under the Nova Scotia Environment Act to two companies that operated the defunct RDM Recycling site between 2002 and 2013.
Brown claimed the companies did not abide by a ministerial order to clean up the site.
WATCH: After years of living with unsafe drinking water, Harrietsfield residents ‘forced’ to lay charges Brown has claimed the recycling plant is leaching contaminants into the groundwater, which is reaching the wells of nearby homes.
She says 50 homes have been impacted, but the province only placed a water-monitoring program on 18 of them.
The nearby St. Paul’s Church — which is on the HRM’s water supply -has been providing water to those in need through access to an outside tap for the last four years.

Residential wells must be at least 50 feet away from all potential and known sources of contamination.
“We’re held to the standards of the Safe Water Drinking Act.” Rick Miller, Sturgis Director of Public Services, says “our goal is to provide customers with a high quality, safe and dependable supply of drinking water and we work diligently to do just that.
“The city is very fortunate in that they are located in an area of safe and plentiful water supply.
The Wellhead Protection Program was implemented in an effort to protect and preserve the city’s water supply for generations to come.” Miller said there are basically two types of water systems: surface water and ground water systems.
The city of Sturgis utilizes a groundwater system, and uses a total of four wells to pump water from the aquifer into the distribution system to supply water to customers.
The city has more than 4,000 water accounts.
Twenty-nine percent of the total piping in the city’s system was installed in 1950 or before; 54.9 percent was installed between 1951 and 1999; 16.1 percent was installed from 2000 through 2016.
Raw water from the wells is treated using chlorine, fluoride (hydrofluosilicic acid), and a polyphosphate polymer.
Chlorine is a disinfectant added to prevent bacterial growth in the water supply system.
The city is required to perform water testing on a weekly, monthly, bi-annual and annual basis.

Recently, the Federal Government declared a state of emergency to invigorate the deteriorating situation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria.
KINGSLEY JEREMIAH and JOKE FALAJU write that a National Action Plan on the situation which was developed by the Ministry of Water Resources to make Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievable in Nigeria by 2030 would be elusive if Federal, State and Local Governments fail to double investment and work with the private sector to address inherent challenges.
As important as water, sanitation and hygiene are to livelihood, a report by the United Nations and another from WaterAid Nigeria recently revealed that over 60 million Nigerians lack access to potable water, 120 million do not have decent toilets facilities and 47 million engage in open defecation.
To underscore the situation, UN reports indicated that over $8 billion would be required yearly till 2030 otherwise; Nigeria would not address the challenge of water.
Obiakor said policy needs to be approved by the Senate and assented to by the President, adding, “if government want that action plan to be effective, it has to approve the National Water Resource bill” With a clear definition of roles among Federal, State, and Local governments, improvement of technical capacity, proper funding, institutionalisation of sanitation, improvement of spending efficiency, management of scare resources, improvement of functioning and creditworthiness of networked services, proper regulation of informal sector in water supply and sanitation, improvement of rural water supply provision, detailed communications strategy as well as mainstream data collection, experts said the country may be heading towards mitigating the challenges in the sector.
In order to ensure that efforts translate into effective service delivery, the experts stressed that service delivery pathway must be established and strengthened at all stages, particularly, from policy, planning and financing, through infrastructure improvements and expansion, to effective management principles.As outlined in the action plan, by 2019 Nigerians are expected to see effective communication of political-will for WASH, a sector reform in all states through the adoption of state-level action plans, development and adoption of policies and laws to produce an enabling environment for the development of efficient, sustainable, and equitable service delivery as well as mobilization of civil society organizations and develop an effective communications policy to obtain community buy-in, while a high-powered steering committee are expected to harmonise tools, systems and approaches for monitoring and evaluation within the sector between all 36 states.
The Federal Government through the 13 years’ plan had said it would support states in the development of their monitoring and evaluation capacity through the organization of zonal capacity building workshops and hands-on support, while conducting regular sector performance reviews The Minister had said government would provide service providers operational and financial efficiency by dedicated technical assistance, expand existing WASH infrastructure, promote increased private sector participation in the sector, get states engaged in institutional development and design incentives for sustainable service delivery models as well as create accountability through a binding performance contract on both the agency and government to accelerated and implementation in a space of five-year.
As a matter of emergency government had pledged to fast track the development of the National Policy on Sanitation, identify and support states, through the National WASH Fund, to demonstrate citywide approaches to sanitation development, improve access to sanitation and hygiene services in public spaces, encourage states and local governments to enforce existing codes and related legislation regarding the minimum number of sanitation facilities required for buildings and facilities as well as a robust public awareness and education.
As laudable as government plans on WASH are, an Official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Zaid Jurgi, sees funding as a basic challenge that may thwart the efforts, insisting that achieving goal six of the SDGs alone would cost Nigeria over $8 billion yearly for the next 13 years.
A large share of these needs to be supported by the public sector; 1.3 per cent of GDP, equivalent to $5.3 billion a year, which must be cost shared by the Federal Government, as well as by the State and Local Governments.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is a country facing depleting water resources mainly due to climate change and poor water resource management.
Demand for irrigation water may increase due to higher evaporation rates.
Hotter temperatures are likely to increase energy demand due to increased air conditioning requirements.
Around 70% of the rural population doesn’t have access to the safe drinking water, which means they are vulnerable to water-borne diseases.
Response is defined as preparedness, but in Pakistan the extreme weather events are increasing; the super floods of 2010 affected around 20 million people in the country, and in 2011 five years of rainfall fell in just four weeks in Sindh.
In 2012, there were more floods.
The last few years of continuous flooding in the country has had a long-term impact on farmers’ ability to produce food.
In Pakistan, climate change in the form of heavy floods—due to Himalayan glacier melting—, droughts, and changing rain patterns—1500 mm in upper part of Pakistan—are adversely affecting the water resources that require effective planning and sufficient resource allocations to manage draining water resources.
In the wake of the deteriorating condition of water availability, there is growing need to allocate more fiscal resources by both federal and provincial governments.
There is also a need to increase the percentage of budget allocation-to-GDP for the improvement of water and sanitation in the country.

Speaking to JIS News, Health and Promotion Officer for Westmoreland, Mr. Gerald Miller, said individuals, especially those who access water via springs, rivers, ponds and community tanks, should exercise care before consuming.
Speaking to JIS News, Health and Promotion Officer for Westmoreland, Mr. Gerald Miller, said individuals, especially those who access water via springs, rivers, ponds and community tanks, should exercise care before consuming.
He advised that residents can treat their water by either boiling it or adding bleach to ensure its safety.
For persons wishing to use bleach, Mr. Miller said specific measurements need to be adhered to and that treated water must be allowed to sit for 30 minutes before it is safe for consumption.
“For (one quart) of water, add two drops of bleach, for 20 litres of water (5 US gallon), add half teaspoon of bleach, and for 170 litres of water (45 US gallon), add four and a half teaspoons of bleach,” he outlined.
Meanwhile, individuals are being encouraged to ensure that storage containers are properly covered so that they do not become breeding sites for mosquitoes.
“Also when fetching water from these containers, a clean jug with a handle should be used at all times.
Do not use containers which have stored harmful chemicals,” he said.
The public is also being reminded not to walk or wade through puddles of water, as they can contract leptospirosis and other diarrhoeal diseases from this practice.
Heavy rainfall, which began on May 6, resulted in flooding and landslides in Western Jamaica.