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If you drive Highway 99 through California’s Central Valley, you’ll pass through the heart of farm country, where the state’s bounty blooms with hundreds of crops – everything from peaches to pistachios, from tangerines to tomatoes. You’ll also pass through dozens of communities, large and small, whose water systems are tainted by a newly regulated contaminant, 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP), which for decades was used in agricultural fumigants injected into farmland across the Valley.

The federal government confirmed 2016 as the planet’s warmest year on record, according to a report released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The combined influence of long-term global warming and a strong El Niño early in the year led to last year’s all-time record heat, NOAA said. While El Niño is a natural warming of Pacific Ocean water, man-made global warming is caused by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent $22.8 million to California to help the state cover expenses related to the crisis at the Oroville Dam earlier this year, the federal agency said. The check was sent to the Department of Water Resources, which requested assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures in February, FEMA said. The allocation was announced during a media call Wednesday. FEMA generally reimburses up to 75% of emergency expenses.