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PFAS Used by Many Industries Warrant Controls, Scientists Say

A subset of so-called forever chemicals, used to make thousands of industrial and consumer products, can’t be deemed “low-concern” despite chemical manufacturers’ arguments, a group of international scientists said in a paper released Tuesday.

California Water Probe Finds PFAS in Majority of Tested Wells

Sixty percent of California’s public water supply wells that were tested for so-called forever chemicals contain those compounds, according to research that the State Water Resources Control Board released Wednesday.

That same investigation into contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances also found that groundwater and surface water sampled at airports far exceeded the concentrations detected in water near landfills and public supply wells.

Imperial County Wants to Help Representative Vargas Draft New River Bill

Imperial County Supervisor Ryan Kelley wants the board to work with Congressman Juan Vargas, D-Chula Vista, and the county’s lobbyists in Washington, D.C., to draft a legislation to fully fund a wastewater treatment project to clean the New River.

New State Law Requires an Action Plan for the Tijuana River

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last week a bill that will require the state’s Environmental Protection Agency to create a Watershed Action Plan for the Tijuana River Valley.

Officials Warn of Water Pollution as Colorado Wildfires Rage

State and local officials are sounding the alarm on water pollution and potential long-term impacts to water caused by ongoing wildfires. As wildfires rage, vegetation and soil are scorched and ash is pushed into Colorado rivers and streams.

“A lot of that ash will get into the water and can change the pH levels,” said Jason Clay with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Traces of Wastewater Found on Both Sides of Border, Likely Caused by Sewage

A report released Thursday by the International Boundary and Water Commission found a significant presence of wastewater in border channels in the Tijuana River Basin impacting San Diego.

In the report, “Binational Water Quality Study of the Tijuana River and Adjacent Canyons and Drains,” scientists from the United States and Mexico collected samples from of seven transboundary channels.

California Mayor, Mexican Governor Launch War of Words over Cross-Border Sewage Spills

The mayor of Imperial Beach, Calif., and the governor of Baja California are engaged in an ongoing public feud over cross-border sewage spills, which have been a problem for years and resulted in polluting local communities in the United States and making people ill.

Torched Towns Beset by Poisoned Water

After a wildfire ripped through central California last month, residents in the Riverside Grove neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains discovered another danger: contaminated water coursing through their pipes.

Benzene, a chemical tied to cancer, leukemia and anemia, was detected in the town’s drinking water after 7 miles of plastic water piping was torched in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire south of San Francisco. Plastic pipes are used for their flexibility in earthquake-prone California. Today, about 450 homes there remain under a “do not drink” advisory.

California Approves New Treatment Method for Removing Nitrate from Groundwater

An innovative process that uses naturally occurring bacteria to remove nitrate from contaminated groundwater has received approval from California’s State Water Board as a treatment method.

The validation stems from a recent pilot study of the Hall BioProcess™ by MIH Water Treatment, Inc. and the San Antonio Water Company in Upland, California.

War of Words Heats up Over International Efforts to Clean up Border Sewage

Baja California Gov. Jaime Bonilla is involved in a war of words with a California mayor over cleanup efforts along the Tijuana River Valley, which lies between Tijuana and the city of San Diego.

For decades, raw sewage, trash and debris have flowed from south of the border into the U.S.

Most of those materials, especially the raw sewage, end up in the Pacific Ocean, forcing the closure of beaches in cities like Imperial Beach where over the last nine months, beaches have been closed 180 days due to high bacteria levels in the ocean water.