Rather, East, whose district encompasses the small towns of Avenal and Kettleman City on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, is worried about the safety of the water that the 2,700 students in his school district are being given to drink.
That’s because arsenic levels in the drinking water at some schools in the San Joaquin Valley exceed the maximum federal safety levels by as much as three times.
But in the San Joaquin Valley and other rural regions of California, residents either rely on private wells or small districts that lack the funds and infrastructure to treat contaminated drinking water.
Over the coming years this money will be used to install safe water systems in schools in disadvantaged communities.
They began talking to me about poor water quality – higher levels of arsenic and fertilizers.” In 2008 the United States Environmental Protection Agency cited Arvin Community Services District, which provides drinking water for the city and schools, for exceeding the maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
Dave Wallis, the technical services program manager at RCAC, says the group has helped install more than 170 filters in the Arvin area since 2015, including in six schools in three local school districts that serve nearly 6,000 students.
Since then, student attendance in Arvin’s schools has gone up, McClean says, and she believes annual physical fitness test results for students have also improved as fewer students have been drinking only sodas and more have begun drinking water on a regular basis.
“It’s great having the kids get the water they like to drink, and it’s helping out the overall health of everybody down there,” says Wallis.
For years, locals in Avenal have shied away from tap water – even before they knew about unsafe levels of disinfectant byproducts – bemoaning its taste and its rusty appearance, and digging into what little money they had to buy five-gallon jugs of bottled water, according to East.
Although food in Avenal schools is still cooked in the cafeteria with bottled water, over the past year, using grant money provided by a local agricultural produce company – the Wonderful Company – schools have installed point-of-use water fountains.

Rather, East, whose district encompasses the small towns of Avenal and Kettleman City on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, is worried about the safety of the water that the 2,700 students in his school district are being given to drink.
That’s because arsenic levels in the drinking water at some schools in the San Joaquin Valley exceed the maximum federal safety levels by as much as three times.
But in the San Joaquin Valley and other rural regions of California, residents either rely on private wells or small districts that lack the funds and infrastructure to treat contaminated drinking water.
Over the coming years this money will be used to install safe water systems in schools in disadvantaged communities.
They began talking to me about poor water quality – higher levels of arsenic and fertilizers.” In 2008 the United States Environmental Protection Agency cited Arvin Community Services District, which provides drinking water for the city and schools, for exceeding the maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
Dave Wallis, the technical services program manager at RCAC, says the group has helped install more than 170 filters in the Arvin area since 2015, including in six schools in three local school districts that serve nearly 6,000 students.
Since then, student attendance in Arvin’s schools has gone up, McClean says, and she believes annual physical fitness test results for students have also improved as fewer students have been drinking only sodas and more have begun drinking water on a regular basis.
“It’s great having the kids get the water they like to drink, and it’s helping out the overall health of everybody down there,” says Wallis.
For years, locals in Avenal have shied away from tap water – even before they knew about unsafe levels of disinfectant byproducts – bemoaning its taste and its rusty appearance, and digging into what little money they had to buy five-gallon jugs of bottled water, according to East.
Although food in Avenal schools is still cooked in the cafeteria with bottled water, over the past year, using grant money provided by a local agricultural produce company – the Wonderful Company – schools have installed point-of-use water fountains.

Rather, East, whose district encompasses the small towns of Avenal and Kettleman City on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, is worried about the safety of the water that the 2,700 students in his school district are being given to drink.
That’s because arsenic levels in the drinking water at some schools in the San Joaquin Valley exceed the maximum federal safety levels by as much as three times.
But in the San Joaquin Valley and other rural regions of California, residents either rely on private wells or small districts that lack the funds and infrastructure to treat contaminated drinking water.
Over the coming years this money will be used to install safe water systems in schools in disadvantaged communities.
They began talking to me about poor water quality – higher levels of arsenic and fertilizers.” In 2008 the United States Environmental Protection Agency cited Arvin Community Services District, which provides drinking water for the city and schools, for exceeding the maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
Dave Wallis, the technical services program manager at RCAC, says the group has helped install more than 170 filters in the Arvin area since 2015, including in six schools in three local school districts that serve nearly 6,000 students.
Since then, student attendance in Arvin’s schools has gone up, McClean says, and she believes annual physical fitness test results for students have also improved as fewer students have been drinking only sodas and more have begun drinking water on a regular basis.
“It’s great having the kids get the water they like to drink, and it’s helping out the overall health of everybody down there,” says Wallis.
For years, locals in Avenal have shied away from tap water – even before they knew about unsafe levels of disinfectant byproducts – bemoaning its taste and its rusty appearance, and digging into what little money they had to buy five-gallon jugs of bottled water, according to East.
Although food in Avenal schools is still cooked in the cafeteria with bottled water, over the past year, using grant money provided by a local agricultural produce company – the Wonderful Company – schools have installed point-of-use water fountains.

Rather, East, whose district encompasses the small towns of Avenal and Kettleman City on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, is worried about the safety of the water that the 2,700 students in his school district are being given to drink.
That’s because arsenic levels in the drinking water at some schools in the San Joaquin Valley exceed the maximum federal safety levels by as much as three times.
But in the San Joaquin Valley and other rural regions of California, residents either rely on private wells or small districts that lack the funds and infrastructure to treat contaminated drinking water.
Over the coming years this money will be used to install safe water systems in schools in disadvantaged communities.
They began talking to me about poor water quality – higher levels of arsenic and fertilizers.” In 2008 the United States Environmental Protection Agency cited Arvin Community Services District, which provides drinking water for the city and schools, for exceeding the maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
Dave Wallis, the technical services program manager at RCAC, says the group has helped install more than 170 filters in the Arvin area since 2015, including in six schools in three local school districts that serve nearly 6,000 students.
Since then, student attendance in Arvin’s schools has gone up, McClean says, and she believes annual physical fitness test results for students have also improved as fewer students have been drinking only sodas and more have begun drinking water on a regular basis.
“It’s great having the kids get the water they like to drink, and it’s helping out the overall health of everybody down there,” says Wallis.
For years, locals in Avenal have shied away from tap water – even before they knew about unsafe levels of disinfectant byproducts – bemoaning its taste and its rusty appearance, and digging into what little money they had to buy five-gallon jugs of bottled water, according to East.
Although food in Avenal schools is still cooked in the cafeteria with bottled water, over the past year, using grant money provided by a local agricultural produce company – the Wonderful Company – schools have installed point-of-use water fountains.

Rather, East, whose district encompasses the small towns of Avenal and Kettleman City on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side, is worried about the safety of the water that the 2,700 students in his school district are being given to drink.
That’s because arsenic levels in the drinking water at some schools in the San Joaquin Valley exceed the maximum federal safety levels by as much as three times.
But in the San Joaquin Valley and other rural regions of California, residents either rely on private wells or small districts that lack the funds and infrastructure to treat contaminated drinking water.
Over the coming years this money will be used to install safe water systems in schools in disadvantaged communities.
They began talking to me about poor water quality – higher levels of arsenic and fertilizers.” In 2008 the United States Environmental Protection Agency cited Arvin Community Services District, which provides drinking water for the city and schools, for exceeding the maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
Dave Wallis, the technical services program manager at RCAC, says the group has helped install more than 170 filters in the Arvin area since 2015, including in six schools in three local school districts that serve nearly 6,000 students.
Since then, student attendance in Arvin’s schools has gone up, McClean says, and she believes annual physical fitness test results for students have also improved as fewer students have been drinking only sodas and more have begun drinking water on a regular basis.
“It’s great having the kids get the water they like to drink, and it’s helping out the overall health of everybody down there,” says Wallis.
For years, locals in Avenal have shied away from tap water – even before they knew about unsafe levels of disinfectant byproducts – bemoaning its taste and its rusty appearance, and digging into what little money they had to buy five-gallon jugs of bottled water, according to East.
Although food in Avenal schools is still cooked in the cafeteria with bottled water, over the past year, using grant money provided by a local agricultural produce company – the Wonderful Company – schools have installed point-of-use water fountains.

San Joaquin Valley Water Supplies – Unavoidable Variability and Uncertainty.
We look at how major flows into and from the Valley vary and the uncertainty in such water balance estimates, with some policy and management implications.
Balanced water management in California must prepare to operate across diverse wet and dry year conditions.
Large outflow and water use changes, and long-term groundwater overdraft, are clearly seen, including recent droughts – where natural availability averaged 2.3 MAF/year less for 2007 to 2015 than its 30-year average.
Large Statistical Uncertainty in Major Inflows Estimates of individual inflows or outflows are more straightforward, but always include some error from measurement inaccuracy, modeling uncertainty, and hydrologic variability.
Average flow estimates, such as those for the San Joaquin Valley water balance, are the basis for many water policy, planning, management, and regulation decisions.
Planning around water balances often overlooks these uncertainties.
Three important implications from these unavoidable uncertainties and variability are: Given California’s natural hydrologic variability, and the inherent uncertainty of our models, water and groundwater plans need to be prepared for simple long-term water balances to be substantially wrong.
Source and sustainability planning should also account for uncertainty estimates and try to reduce them over time to improve the accuracy of their water budgets estimations.
Accounting Water for the San Joaquin Valley.

Accounting for Water in the San Joaquin Valley.
by Brad Arnold1, Alvar Escriva-Bou1,2, Jay Lund1, and Ellen Hanak2 University of California – Davis, Center for Watershed Sciences Public Policy Institute of California Accounting for water supplies and uses is fundamental to good water management, but it is often difficult and controversial to implement.
Total net water supply— from local and imported inflows, precipitation, and changes in storage (including groundwater overdraft or recharge)—must equal the sum of net water used or stored within the valley (in surface reservoirs and aquifers) plus exports and outflows.
These annual data show: Local inflows from Sierra Nevada watersheds vary wildly between years, and drive regional groundwater pumping; Net or “consumptive” water use—the water consumed by people or plants, evaporated into the air, or discharged into saline water bodies or groundwater basins—is fairly constant across these years.
These imports are affected by water conditions in the Sacramento Valley, Delta pumping regulations, and water demand in other importing regions (especially Southern California); San Joaquin River outflows also vary significantly, reflecting variable inflows from the Sierra Nevada watershed, as well as changes over time in environmental and water quality regulations on valley outflows.
The 30-year average annual groundwater overdraft is roughly 1.8 million acre-feet per year (MAF/yr).
Average shares of water sources in the San Joaquin Valley are in the charts below.
The valley’s overall dryness and the high variability between drought and wet years require better long-term water planning and more robust water accounting.
Accounting for California’s Water.
Bulletin 160: California Water Plan Update 2013, Volume 2: Regional Reports – San Joaquin River Hydrologic Region.

Waterwise: Additional funding needed for drought relief.
Laurel Firestone, co-executive director of Community Water Center, and Tom Collishaw, Self-Help Enterprise CEO, said Central Valley residents are in need of clean water.
According to the State Water Resource Control Board, there are California communities not able to finance long-overdue drinking water solutions.
In some communities, according to the resource board, water has high levels of arsenic for more than 10 years.
“California has been a leader in drinking water, but we have to commit sustained funding if we want to solve the crisis this year,” Firestone said.
Collishaw said the need for clean water must be addressed.
Arsenic, nitrate and disinfectant byproducts are the most common contaminants.
The CWC said 300 communities and one million California residents are still lacking access to clean water.
Earlier this year, state administrators recognized there are communities in need of finding a water solution.
“The Administration is committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders to address this issue,” according to Brown’s budget.

Wetlands at risk from federal rule change: “The federal government’s Clean Water Act includes dozens of regulations to reduce water pollution.
… ” Read more from the PPIC Blog here: Wetlands at risk from federal rule change 100% Wrong!
Some of the discussion points are presented in this post, with my comments.
Now, by many accounts, the drought is over for much of the state.
… ” Read more from The Confluence Blog here: Extreme precipitation and water storage in California Accounting for water in the San Joaquin Valley: “Accounting for water supplies and uses is fundamental to good water management, but it is often difficult and controversial to implement.
I discussed these and related topics for the San Joaquin River fall-run salmon in a post on February 13.
In a March 1 post on its daily blog, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife predicted poor salmon runs this year: … ” Read more from the California Fisheries Blog here: Sacramento River fall-run salmon: status and future State double-feature is for the birds: “Though it’s one of the most altered landscapes in the west, the northern San Joaquin Valley still retains remnants of its marvelous natural history.
… ” Read more from The Valley Citizen here: State double-feature is for the birds Oroville’s impact on Lake Mead: “Friday’s announcement of an 85 percent California State Water Project allocation was, tentatively at least, good news for Lake Mead.
The Trump administration official said he and the governor discussed “public lands, water infrastructure and projects throughout California” that are managed by the Department of Interior.
… ” Read more from the Inkstain blog here: The paradoxes of irrigation efficiency Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!

Many people must still use water stored in large tanks in their yard to wash dishes and bathe.
The drought emergency remains in effect in Kings, Fresno, Tulare and Tuolumne counties, even after one of California’s wettest winters in years prompted officials to declare an end to the historic, five-year dry spell in nearly all of the nation’s most populous state.
"I wouldn’t drink it."
Miguel and his neighbor survive on the trucked-in water and deliveries of bottled drinking water.
In parts of the San Joaquin Valley, underground aquifers — layers of earth saturated by water — collapsed from over-pumping during years of dry weather, according to scientists at Stanford and NASA who studied satellite imagery to measure sinking land.
Emergency water tanks for residents have cost the state nearly $28 million since 2014, with more than half in Tulare County.
Randy Herman, a long-distance trucker with a family, says it’s obvious to him that his community is a long way from rebounding from drought.
After his well ran dry, he connected to a large water tank before finally hooking up to the community well.
"I don’t think the drought’s over.
In this photo taken April 10, 2017, is David Miguel at his home in the community of Hardwick in the San Joaquin Valley where drought has yet to loosen its grip on some residents near Hanford, Calif. State officials lifted the drought emergency for much California, but thousands of people like Miguel still live on water tanks because their wells ran dry.