Clean Water Archives

AP Interview: EPA Water Chief On Clean Water Protections

To finally determine a lasting definition of waterways that qualify for federal protection under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new water director says everyone with a stake in the issue will need to be engaged.

Radhika Fox recently spoke to The Associated Press about the Biden administration’s plan to rewrite the regulation, also called Waters of the United States. The contentious rule was scaled back by the Trump administration after being expanded under President Barack Obama.

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House Advances Bill With Increased Funding For Clean Water

June 15, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Water Finance & Management

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee last week marked up and advanced H.R. 1915, the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021.

This legislation follows the Senate’s passage in May of its clean water reauthorization package, S. 914, the Senate Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 (DWWIA). According to the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Committee’s action marks another step towards increasing clean water investment, setting the stage for increased funding year over year that better reflects the critical needs for clean water investment.

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Opinion: Water Board Choice is Key to Providing Clean Water For All

June 10, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Mercury Newsby Belinda Faustinos and Barbara Barrigan

California’s drought highlights the importance of an appointment sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk – filling the final seat on the State Water Resources Control Board. This is a critical agency appointment at a critical time.

The drought highlights many inequities in California water policy.

Disadvantaged communities in Stockton face the prospect of a drought summer plagued by harmful algae blooms in Delta rivers. Those algae outbreaks, which can harm children and kill pets, are caused by excessive nutrients and inadequate freshwater flow. Think what it means for a parent to be afraid for their child’s health if they swim in a river on a hot summer day.

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Biden Urged to Back Water Bill Amid Worst US Crisis in Decades

February 25, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Guardianby Nina Lakhani

Democratic lawmakers and advocates are urging Joe Biden to back legislation proposing unprecedented investment in America’s ailing water infrastructure amid the country’s worst crisis in decades that has left millions of people without access to clean, safe, affordable water.

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Clean Water Plans Need More Public Involvement, Activists Say

January 14, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /San Joaquin Valley Waterby Lois Henry

The stage is finally set for years of talking to be translated into actual clean drinking water for potentially thousands of San Joaquin Valley residents. But activists fear the effort will flop before the curtain rises if more isn’t done to engage the people who are drinking that water. The issue is nitrate, which is rife the valley’s groundwater and considered dangerous for infants and pregnant women.

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‘We Need Water to Survive’: Hopi Tribe Pushes for Solutions in Long Struggle for Water

December 15, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Arizona Centralby Ian James

Some Hopi families don’t have running water. Many others have water tainted with arsenic. Steps toward fixes are finally taking shape.

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Opinion: Why Fixing the Nation’s Water Crisis and Combating a Pandemic are Linked

September 1, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /PlanetWatchby Gina-Marie Cheeseman

Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic requires access to safe, clean water. While some Americans decry their “loss of freedom” by being told to wear a mask in public spaces, others don’t have the freedom to wash their hands with clean water.

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Clean Water Advocates Hoping to Safeguard SAFER Funding

August 4, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /SJV Water (San Joaquin Valley)by Lois Henry

Just when it looked like small drinking water systems in California were finally getting the long-term help they so desperately need, along came COVID-19. The state is peppered with failing small systems, many serving low-income communities without the resources to repair them. At least one-third of those failing systems are in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

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California Had a Plan to Bring Clean Water to a Million People. Then the Pandemic Hit

July 27, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /San Francisco Chronicleby Alexei Koseff

The water is too contaminated to safely drink, but residents of this farmworker community in the Central Valley pay $74 a month just to be able to turn on the tap at home.

Their bills are even higher if they use more than 50 gallons a day, a fraction of daily water consumption for the average California household. And when Fresno County completes a new well that has been planned for years, the price will increase again to cover the cost of treating manganese-laced water pumped from hundreds of feet below.

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Central Valley Could Get Federal Aid for Drinking Water Crisis. Will Trump Support It?

July 27, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Fresno Beeby Monica Vaughan

Central Valley neighborhoods are a step closer to new money to fix broken water systems and access clean, safe drinking water — if the White House and Congress agree on an infrastructure package currently moving through the U.S. House of Representatives.

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