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The San Diego Unified School District began testing its schools’ water this month after lab reports confirmed “higher than allowable” lead levels were found at one campus. Test results released Thursday show lead has been found in the water of schools tested last week but not more than the action level set by EPA of 15 parts per billion (ppb). In 2009, California’s health department, OEHHA, set the public health goal for lead in drinking water at 0.2 parts per billion. The district declined an on-camera interview and a recorded telephone interview Friday.

 

A newly formed water and power company managed by a San Diego housing developer is negotiating behind the scenes with the City of Industry on the future of 2,500 acres of undeveloped rolling hills near the borders of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. The business-centric City of Industry has been aggressively trying to regain control of the historic Tres Hermanos Ranch in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills, one of the largest remaining pieces of vacant private land in the region. The city lost access to the land during the demise of local redevelopment agencies five years ago.

California affirmed the human right to safe and affordable drinking water in 2012, when it became the first state in the country to legislatively declare that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible water.” But five years later, still, 300 communities and a million Californians — that’s three times the entire population of Iceland, and more than the population of Flint, Michigan — lack this basic human right, as they are exposed to unsafe drinking water each year.