Report: Nitrate Contamination In Salinas, Central Valleys’ Drinking Water Pervasive, Spreading

www.washingtonpost.com... R_story.html

The study, ordered by the state Legislature, shows chemical fertilizers and livestock manure are the main source of nitrate contamination in groundwater for more than 1 million Californians in the Salinas Valley and parts of the Central Valley.

“Even if we were to eliminate all the sources of nitrate that we have today, we would still be dealing with this issue.”

The study — covering the Salinas Valley and Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern counties — concluded half of the 2.6 million people in those areas live in communities where raw drinking water sources have registered nitrate levels exceeding the standard.

It's a two-page article with some interesting information in it.

High nitrate intake leads to infant deaths, infertility, and cancer. That much most of us know.

It seems the best solution they have come up with is to blend "purer" water with the poisonous water, thus diluting the nitrate ppm to lower it to the "safe" level.

I am no expert, so maybe someone can help me answer this: Do nitrates build-up in the body? Or are they processed fairly quickly? Seems to me *any* high levels of nitrates could pose the same problems over a long period of time as the "unsafe" levels would. Let's face it, they are probably diluting it just enough to fall under the "safe" category. They probably aren't investing in trying to remove it entirely.

Cleaning up polluted aquifers would be too difficult, the study concludes. Improved farming practices and water blending, treatment and alternative water sources are more cost effective.

Then again, why should they care how much it costs. One of their ways to raise the funds is taxing the people that they are poisoning...

The study estimates addressing current nitrate contamination will cost the state $20 million to $35 million per year. The study proposes a fertilizer tax which would be used by affected communities to mitigate for nitrate contamination. Another funding option is water use fees from affected residents.

Pretty savvy business sense there, California. Instead of removing the poisons from the environment, let's tax the companies for using the poison. Then, let's raise taxes on the residents we are poisoning to remove it.

The study found that nitrate leaching from agricultural land is responsible for 96% of current groundwater contamination. And while fertilizer use has leveled off in recent years, the amount of dairy manure has increased, making for a net increase over the past decade in nitrates loaded into the ground.

Well, they know where 96% of it is coming from...

And yet their best answer is to tax the growers, instead of banning the dangerous fertilizers altogether.

Makes you wonder if there is anyone left that even gives a crap anymore. I've lived in Salinas. Great artichoke country

But I'm sorry, if growing in the desert means you have to kill the environment for a proper yield...

Maybe it's time to stop farming in the damned desert.

Well, if you've lived in Salinas, then you know that anything that hurts farming there is an outright catastrophe for the whole Valley. I mean heck... What's next?? They nearly turned the central valley into a dust bowl by cutting water to the bare minimums on farming...to save a friggen fish. I've got pictures of it from behind the wheel of my produce truck up and down I-5 and Hwy 99.

California just can't quit....not even for a little bit. Their state is going flat broke and on the verge of TOTAL structural collapse in numerous cities as Sacramento itself WOULD be in total collapse if they couldn't still find parlor games and magic tricks to make a crap sandwich look like Steak and Eggs. What matters though? Attack those dirty farmers! Yeah! Go get 'em! There is only a couple viable economic engines left in the whole state and Agriculture takes 2 of the 3 top slots, to my thinking. So, of course.....add more cost, more loss and more regulation to THAT industry. What the heck could possibly go wrong?

The People's Republic of California is alive and well. Da, Comrade. Da.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Well, if you've lived in Salinas, then you know that anything that hurts farming there is an outright catastrophe for the whole Valley.

California just can't quit....not even for a little bit. Their state is going flat broke and on the verge of TOTAL structural collapse in numerous cities as Sacramento itself WOULD be in total collapse if they couldn't still find parlor games and magic tricks to make a crap sandwich look like Steak and Eggs. What matters though? Attack those dirty farmers! Yeah! Go get 'em! There is only a couple viable economic engines left in the whole state and Agriculture takes 2 of the 3 top slots, to my thinking. So, of course.....add more cost, more loss and more regulation to THAT industry. What the heck could possibly go wrong?

The People's Republic of California is alive and well. Da, Comrade. Da.

Relying on agriculture in the desert to support a populace...

Didn't Egypt already teach us this lesson?

The California Agricultural sector is just another bubble waiting to pop...

To some degree, I can't argue..... Salinas, Watsonville and Castroville aren't really what I'd call desert though. Same with the Southern coastal produce cities like Gonzales, Santa Maria and Oxnard. At least they shouldn't be if the water wasn't being supplied then yanked back like a political toy from season to season and one administration to another.

I'll definitely agree on the Central valley being a desert though. It didn't take long for the irrigation water to stop flowing from outside the area to see the place just kinda die and turn into endless fields of nothing but dirt. It's been shocking to see California change over the last several years that way. It used to be thriving beyond all belief for food production. Now it's just another industry under siege...and every Grocery store supplied by it of course.

We won't have illegal aliens to worry about too much longer at this rate. Produce will be another thing imported from south of the border and Asia. People might be downright sick if they knew just how much already is. The labor will be migrating right back south with the jobs and food crops if they keep finding more and more ways to make farming a miserable hell in the United States

S/F on the thread tho.....Whether I agree or not, it still brings attention to a corner of the nation that desperately needs it for other reasons, if we don't agree on the same side of this one.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It's healthy to see another side of a story once in a while.

California goes about everything ass backwards... this is just par for the course.

My Grandfather worked at the Salinas prison and had a small farm. The water bills got pretty out-of-hand even for his small personal plot. For people to not realize this would happen over time is pretty narrow-sighted in my opinion.

More of people trying to hold onto a sinking ship than trying to swim for the life raft, imo.

It's a kind of poetic justice that they named a town Bitterwater...

Star for your contribution, good sir.