Study co-authored by UCLA researchers finds hundreds of public water systems are out of compliance
Courtesy of the California State Water Resources Control Board
Wellhead treatment plants like this one play an important role in providing clean water to communities across the state. Michelle Einstein |
April 12, 2021
California was the first U.S. state to legally recognize access to safe, clean and affordable water as a human right. But substantial parts of the state lack access to drinking water that meets those criteria.
A new study (PDF) published by the California State Water Board and supported by UCLA research identifies a risk for failure among a significant portion of the state’s small and medium-sized public water systems. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of how clean water is provided in California, and it estimates how much it would actually cost to deliver safe water to every resident.
Report sets path toward clean drinking water for all Californians
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As Michigan s water shutoff ban approaches end, affordability fight continues in Congress, courts
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Transcript
This is Eileen Wray-McCann for Circle of Blue. And this is What’s Up with Water, your “need-to-know news” of the world’s water, made possible by support from people like you.
In Southeast Asia, the Mekong River Commission said that water levels in the Mekong have fallen because Chinese dams upstream are limiting outflows. The river turned blue along the Thai-Laos border. That color shift signals shallow water that is affecting fish migration, farming, and barge transport. The river flow is also lessened because of reduced rainfall and water held in other dams on the Lower Mekong. Reuters reports that the river commission called for China to share its water release plans so that downstream countries could prepare for changes in the Mekong. China agreed last year to share reservoir and rainfall data with its neighbors.
The Pandemic’s Unequal Impact on North Carolina Water Utilities and Their Customers
A new report depicts the financial challenges of providing water service in unprecedented times.
The pandemic has resulted in a range of experiences for water utilities in North Carolina and their customers. Photo by Fran Jacquier on Unsplash
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
Early last summer, when economists feared that the financial consequences of the pandemic could be nearly as severe as the Great Depression, Sharen Apple received a phone call offering help.
Apple is the accounting manager for Jamestown, a community of just over 4,000 people in Guilford County, North Carolina. The caller, from Summit Church, said that church members wanted to do a good deed: they wanted to pay off the debts of residents who had fallen behind on their water bills.