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The lead-poisoned drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., has gotten all the headlines, but California has a water contamination problem that endangers far more people, and it has existed for decades. State officials knew for a generation that many Californians lack access to clean, safe drinking water, yet, disgracefully, they did not begin to address the issue until five years ago. The state Legislature is now poised to chalk up a historic achievement as it negotiates Senate Bill 623, which would establish a fund to subsidize adequate water treatment for most of the roughly 1 million Californians who still need it.

The last time Tom Fayram walked on water, Lake Cachuma was just a mud puddle. Today, Cachuma is half full, thanks to this season’s extravagant deluge. But even amid this newfound aquatic abundance, Fayram ​— ​as the county’s official water czar ​— ​might find the ability to walk on water an occupational necessity in the months to come, given the challenges ahead. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Fayram was gently pummeled for presenting a highly preliminary report on a proposal to allow Santa Barbara County water agencies to secure an additional 12,000 acre-feet a year in state water entitlements.

The State Water Resources Control Board adopted rules Tuesday to protect people and wildlife consuming fish from freshwater streams, lakes and rivers in California that contain mercury – a potent neurotoxin. The new regulations would protect Californians that rely on fish as a source of food such as Native Americans and other non-tribal subsistence fishers, according to Water Board officials. “Fish like salmon, bass, sturgeon and other popular fish like trout are sought after as a key food source by California Native American tribes, and other groups that depend on fish for sustenance,” said State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus.

Cindy Messer apologized Tuesday to several hundred grim Oroville residents who had been ordered to run from their homes three months earlier. They sat rigidly in their seats inside the Oroville Municipal Auditorium at the first public meeting Messer’s agency, the Department of Water Resources, has hosted in Oroville since the February crisis at the dam. Some sternly crossed their arms as they stared Messer down.