Tom Steyer, the San Francisco billionaire and environmentalist, promised his support Tuesday for a proposed safe and affordable drinking water fund to help communities with contaminated water in the San Joaquin Valley.
“It’s unjust for a million Californians to be exposed to unsafe water on a daily basis,” Steyer said.
According to the state, 36 public water systems serving more than 35,000 people in Fresno County are currently out of compliance for a range of contaminants, including arsenic and nitrates.
And of 306 communities across California that are out of compliance with primary safe drinking water standards, 154 are in the eight counties of the Valley.
The 154 water systems serve 218,000 people.
Lucy Hernandez, representing Agua Coalition y West Goshen, told Steyer: “In our community, we had three days and three nights without water because our well collapsed; and it was like the worst days of our lives.” In our community, we had three days and three nights without water because our well collapsed; and it was like the worst days of our lives.
During a news conference Tuesday, Steyer said in 2012 California declared that clean drinking water is a human right, but the state has not lived up to that pledge.
Clean drinking water is a justice issue, he said.
“People absolutely have a right to clean, safe drinking water.” Fresno has gained Steyer’s attention before.
And that’s why I say, as strange as it is, I think this is a very good time to be making that argument and to be making this fight for clean water for everybody.” As for his own political ambitions, Steyer has been rumored to have an eye on the governor’s race, but on Tuesday he laughed off a question about a run for the top state office.

An innovative project would see seven Tulare County towns plagued by polluted wells sharing a water treatment plant, but political infighting stalled the proposal days before a funding deadline.
The river water is available, and the state is willing to help build the treatment plant for the 17,000 people in these towns.
A regional water treatment system shared among several rural towns would be a first for the San Joaquin Valley, but it is threatened by self-inflicted delays and local political slowdowns, including one that last month stalled the estimated $30 million treatment plant.
But we’re not giving up.” River water instead of groundwater is perhaps the most elegant long-term solution to the chronic contamination of drinking-water wells in this farm belt.
Around the San Joaquin Valley, many rural communities with contaminated or dried-up wells are connecting with bigger cities.
The northern Tulare County towns aren’t close enough to connect with big cities, such as Visalia, which has a population of about 130,000.
Cutler and Orosi have 80 percent of the 17,000 residents who would be served.
He says Cutler has been working on the water treatment concept since 2004.
“This is something the community needs,” he says.
The state publicly agreed, but then quietly balked again, citing a funding technicality: The funding would not be high priority because the lead applicant, Orosi, had a water supply that was not currently out of compliance with standards.

An innovative project would see seven Tulare County towns plagued by polluted wells sharing a water treatment plant, but political infighting stalled the proposal days before a funding deadline.
The river water is available, and the state is willing to help build the treatment plant for the 17,000 people in these towns.
A regional water treatment system shared among several rural towns would be a first for the San Joaquin Valley, but it is threatened by self-inflicted delays and local political slowdowns, including one that last month stalled the estimated $30 million treatment plant.
But we’re not giving up.” River water instead of groundwater is perhaps the most elegant long-term solution to the chronic contamination of drinking-water wells in this farm belt.
Around the San Joaquin Valley, many rural communities with contaminated or dried-up wells are connecting with bigger cities.
The northern Tulare County towns aren’t close enough to connect with big cities, such as Visalia, which has a population of about 130,000.
Cutler and Orosi have 80 percent of the 17,000 residents who would be served.
He says Cutler has been working on the water treatment concept since 2004.
“This is something the community needs,” he says.
The state publicly agreed, but then quietly balked again, citing a funding technicality: The funding would not be high priority because the lead applicant, Orosi, had a water supply that was not currently out of compliance with standards.

The majority of residents in the San Joaquin Valley rely on groundwater for some or all of their drinking water, and many California groundwater basins are contaminated with a mix of manmade and naturally occurring toxicants.
California set the drinking water standard for nitrate in 1962 and has regulated water quality since 1969.
The San Joaquin Valley is particularly hard hit by nitrate: 63 percent of the state’s public water systems that report violations of health standards for the contaminant in 2015 were in the Valley.
"Nitrate is the most critical, the most immediate contaminant in the San Joaquin Valley," Harter says.
State regulators are in the second year of a program to help keep agricultural nitrate out of groundwater in the Central Valley.
Other major human sources of groundwater contaminants in the San Joaquin Valley include pesticides that are banned but still linger in the environment.
The San Joaquin Valley has three of the four California counties with the highest DBCP levels, which are triple that deemed to be safe by the state.
In 2015, 60 percent of the state’s public water systems reporting health violations for arsenic were in the Valley, and Madera County drinking water has the highest levels of arsenic statewide.
He only found out when he started working as policy director at the Community Water Center, which advocates for safe drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, and he realized his town was one that had found the contaminant in its drinking water.
"We don’t know how air pollution impacts the body differently from water pollution or how multiple effects work out," Capitman says.

But some communities get all their water from contaminated aquifers and can’t afford to treat it properly, which can threaten public health, according to a report by the State Water Resources Control Board.
In California, the state is only just starting to address the primary source of this contaminant in the San Joaquin Valley’s groundwater: the Valley’s 5 million acres of farmland.
The San Joaquin Valley is particularly hard hit by nitrate: 63 percent of the state’s public water systems that report violations of health standards for the contaminant in 2015 were in the Valley.
"Nitrate is the most critical, the most immediate contaminant in the San Joaquin Valley," Harter says.
State regulators are in the second year of a program to help keep agricultural nitrate out of groundwater in the Central Valley.
Other major human sources of groundwater contaminants in the San Joaquin Valley include pesticides that are banned but still linger in the environment.
In 2015, 60 percent of the state’s public water systems reporting health violations for arsenic were in the Valley, and Madera County drinking water has the highest levels of arsenic statewide.
He only found out when he started working as policy director at the Community Water Center, which advocates for safe drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, and he realized his town was one that had found the contaminant in its drinking water.
Nelson says drinking water advocates estimate a capital funding need of up to a billion dollars, which would need to be addressed in a future water bond.
"We don’t know how air pollution impacts the body differently from water pollution or how multiple effects work out," Capitman says.

The epicenter of the state’s drinking water catastrophe is in the San Joaquin Valley, where 200,000 people have struggled to obtain clean, safe water for decades.
Across California more than 1.5 million people rely on drinking water from a community system that has a water quality violation that could impact public health, according to an estimate by the state using 2015 data.
A further 166,000 people are connected to nearly 1,000 water systems serving just 75 to 300 people each.
“Small community water systems typically lack the infrastructure and economies of scale of larger water systems, and in some cases cannot afford to treat or find alternative supplies for a contaminated drinking water source,” an SWRCB report found.
There are 310,000 people living in 525 low-income, unincorporated communities in the San Joaquin Valley where water quality problems are common.
Seville, Quintana’s hometown, was among those listed.
But it’s a water system designed to feed the farms of the valley and the cities of southern California, not the region’s rural communities.
Lucy Hernandez lives in West Goshen in Tulare County, a community where the water is contaminated by high levels of nitrate.
“We’ve always had these problems.
But the more people you get involved, other communities, you have a bigger voice and people do listen.” In tiny Tombstone Territory, Carolina Garcia dreams of connecting her home’s water to the town of Sanger next door.

Drought conditions continue for thousands of rural residents in the San Joaquin valley who rely on groundwater.
The state is trying not to abandon people with dry wells.
Starting July 1, an additional year of free water will be delivered to massive tanks that were placed at many dwellings with dry wells, including the Rios’ home.
One year won’t be enough time to fix all the problems out there.
“And what will happen should any new homes run out of water during the next year?” asks Jenny Rempel, director of education and engagement for the nonprofit advocacy group Community Water Center.
“That’s not a good solution if you’ve been waiting for years already.” Herrera works with Tulare County residents, including those in Monson, where about 200 residents have never had access to a central water system – just private wells.
But Monson has been waiting since 2008 when contamination was found in private wells.
About 800 homes will be hooked up to water soon in East Porterville, where more than 7,000 people went dry a few years ago, Coyne says.
Even as millions of dollars are invested and the water comes back to many homes, residents know wells could go dry again if groundwater pumping ramps up.
A Sacramento Bee investigation found a record 2,500 wells were drilled in San Joaquin Valley in 2015 during the height of the drought.

The epicenter of the state’s drinking water catastrophe is in the San Joaquin Valley, where 200,000 people have struggled to obtain clean, safe water for decades.
Across California more than 1.5 million people rely on drinking water from a community system that has a water quality violation that could impact public health, according to an estimate by the state using 2015 data.
A further 166,000 people are connected to nearly 1,000 water systems serving just 75 to 300 people each.
“Small community water systems typically lack the infrastructure and economies of scale of larger water systems, and in some cases cannot afford to treat or find alternative supplies for a contaminated drinking water source,” an SWRCB report found.
There are 310,000 people living in 525 low-income, unincorporated communities in the San Joaquin Valley where water quality problems are common.
Seville, Quintana’s hometown, was among those listed.
But it’s a water system designed to feed the farms of the valley and the cities of southern California, not the region’s rural communities.
Lucy Hernandez lives in West Goshen in Tulare County, a community where the water is contaminated by high levels of nitrate.
“We’ve always had these problems.
But the more people you get involved, other communities, you have a bigger voice and people do listen.” In tiny Tombstone Territory, Carolina Garcia dreams of connecting her home’s water to the town of Sanger next door.

Nitrate is one of the state’s most widespread groundwater contaminants, according to research from the University of California, Davis, which reported that nitrate-contaminated groundwater poses public health risks for approximately 254,000 people living in two of the biggest agricultural areas of the state: the San Joaquin Valley’s Tulare Lake Basin and the Salinas Valley.
California set the drinking water standard for nitrate in 1962 and has regulated water quality since 1969.
The San Joaquin Valley is particularly hard hit by nitrate: 63 percent of the state’s public water systems that report violations of health standards for the contaminant in 2015 were in the Valley.
“Nitrate is the most critical, the most immediate contaminant in the San Joaquin Valley,” Harter says.
The San Joaquin Valley has three of the four California counties with the highest DBCP levels, which are triple that deemed to be safe by the state.
In 2015, 60 percent of the state’s public water systems reporting health violations for arsenic were in the Valley, and Madera County drinking water has the highest levels of arsenic statewide.
Without proper management, unlined pits can threaten groundwater quality, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board reports.
He only found out when he started working as policy director at the Community Water Center, which advocates for safe drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, and he realized his town was one that had found the contaminant in its drinking water.
“But people lack safe drinking water in our own backyard.” Even when drinking water contains known toxins, it can be hard to prove that any single one affects people’s health.
“We don’t know how air pollution impacts the body differently from water pollution or how multiple effects work out,” Capitman says.

The epicenter of the state’s drinking water catastrophe is in the San Joaquin Valley, where 200,000 people have struggled to obtain clean, safe water for decades.
Across California more than 1.5 million people rely on drinking water from a community system that has a water quality violation that could impact public health, according to an estimate by the state using 2015 data.
A further 166,000 people are connected to nearly 1,000 water systems serving just 75 to 300 people each.
“Small community water systems typically lack the infrastructure and economies of scale of larger water systems, and in some cases cannot afford to treat or find alternative supplies for a contaminated drinking water source,” an SWRCB report found.
There are 310,000 people living in 525 low-income, unincorporated communities in the San Joaquin Valley where water quality problems are common.
Seville, Quintana’s hometown, was among those listed.
But it’s a water system designed to feed the farms of the valley and the cities of southern California, not the region’s rural communities.
Lucy Hernandez lives in West Goshen in Tulare County, a community where the water is contaminated by high levels of nitrate.
“We’ve always had these problems.
But the more people you get involved, other communities, you have a bigger voice and people do listen.” In tiny Tombstone Territory, Carolina Garcia dreams of connecting her home’s water to the town of Sanger next door.