Tag Archive for: Water Contamination

Biden Delays Trump Changes to Lead and Copper Drinking Water Rule

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is delaying the implementation of a Trump administration update to a rule governing lead and copper in drinking water. The rule in question is expected to quicken the speed at which cities need to notify people who may have been exposed to lead but gives utilities a longer timeline to replace lead-tainted service lines. A new statement from the Environmental Protection Agency said that it is extending the date that the rule becomes effective, delaying it until at least June 17. It was originally expected to go into effect next week.

Near Coasts, Rising Seas Could Also Push Up Long-Buried Toxic Contamination

Marquita Price grew up spending lots of time at her grandmother’s one-story lavender house in Deep East Oakland. It’s a place she’s always considered home, and where her grandmother still lives. So Price, an urban planner, was upset to learn about a lesser-known aspect of climate change fueled by sea level rise: it could cause the groundwater beneath this formerly-industrial community to rise, and wreak slow-motion havoc in the process.

DuPont, 3M Win Dismissal of California PFAS Lawsuit

3M Co. and E.I. DuPont de Nemours Inc. shook off a California water utility’s claims that they contaminated the state water supply with PFAS after the Central District of California found the utility failed to establish jurisdiction.

Golden State Water Co. alleges that the companies “directed and instructed” intermediaries and end users of their products to dispose of them in a way they should have known may cause contamination.

What Happens When a Rural Area’s Only Well is Contaminated?

In the spring of 2013, Jocelyn Walters moved Nativearth, her family’s small shoe business, into a warehouse in Mariposa Industrial Park that gave them more space to grow.

But there was one quirk of the new space she hadn’t foreseen.

The industrial park, which has only four businesses and isn’t connected to the town’s water system, gets its water from a well on her family’s property on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park. So Walters found herself helping run a water company from a shoe business.

California Water PFAS Lawsuit – An Increasing Trend?

On October 27, 2020, a California water PFAS lawsuit was filed by the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency against several companies, in which it is alleged that the companies are responsible for PFAS water contamination in southern California.

Pipes Could Release Toxic Chromium Into Tap Water

Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen that was made famous by the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” which dramatized a case of industrial pollution that contaminated water supplies in California. A new study shows that Cr(VI) can slip into drinking water when commonly used chlorine disinfectants corrode cast iron water distribution pipes.

Lessons from Camp Fire Could Help Prevent Water Contamination After North Complex

Fear of contaminating precious local water sources is one way devastating wildfires continue to be felt in communities in Butte County, where the debris of burnt homes from recent fires sits near a watershed used by many in Northern California.

As Wildfires Ravage the West, Contaminated Water Raises Health Concerns

A few weeks after the devastating 2017 Tubbs Fire raged through parts of northern California, Gerald and Serene Buhrz returned to their Santa Rosa home, turned on the kitchen sink faucet, and were hit with a stinging smell.

Unsafe to Drink: Wildfires Threaten Rural Towns With Tainted Water

For more than a month after a wildfire raced through his lakeside community and destroyed his Napa County home, Kody Petrini couldn’t drink the water from the taps. He wasn’t even supposed to boil it. And, worried about harming his 16-month-old, Petrini wouldn’t wash his youngest son Levi with it.

DuPont, Chemours, 3M Sued Over PFAS in California Water

3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours Inc., Chemours Co., and Corteva Inc. are facing a suit by Golden State Water Co. over PFAS contamination of the state water supply. The water supplier seeks to recover from 3M as the only manufacturer of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid in the U.S. PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid are both in a family of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.