The Problem
Drinking water quality in the San Joaquin Valley is the worst in California, due to the pollution of groundwater sources from decades of intensive fertilizer and pesticide application as well as the massive influx of animal factories to the region. As the polluting industries form the basis for the local economy, political will to address the contamination has been minimal. Low-income immigrant Latino farm-workers have borne the brunt of this inaction, suffering from the effects of widespread drinking water contamination and dilapidated water infrastructure.
Click here for a factsheet on the struggle for safe drinking water in San Joaquin Valley.
Read more about the Solution
The primary groundwater contaminant in the San Joaquin Valley is nitrate. High levels of nitrate come from fertilizers, animal factory waste, and leaky septic systems. At concentrations that exceed the state and federal health standards, nitrate can cause death in infants less than 6 months old, stillbirths, and cancer in adults. Other common groundwater problems in the San Joaquin Valley include arsenic, DBCP, over-chlorination and contamination by bacteria and disinfectant byproducts, all of which can cause both long-term and short-term illnesses.Tulare County, one of the poorest counties in California, is more than 50% Latino and the site of the largest number of drinking water violations in the San Joaquin Valley. Over 20% of all small public water systems in Tulare County provide water with illegal levels of nitrate and other contaminants. In a recent study of private wells in Tulare County conducted by the State Water Resources Control Board, over 40% of the wells tested contained illegal levels of nitrates, and 75% had at least one contaminant over legal notification limits. Most of these wells serve low-income Latino families.
