First-ever water tax proposed to tackle unsafe drinking water in California

In this Sept. 18, 2015 photo, a man loads a truck on farmland near Fresno, Calif. U.S. officials with the Geological Survey’s Sacramento office and elsewhere believe the amount of uranium increased in Central Valley drinking-water supplies over the last 150 years with the spread of farming.

SACRAMENTO — For the first time, Californians would pay a tax on drinking water, 95 cents per month, under legislation to fix hundreds of public water systems with unsafe tap water — a problem that’s most pervasive in rural areas with agricultural runoff.

Senate Bill 623, backed by a strange-bedfellows coalition of the agricultural lobby and environmental groups but opposed by water districts, would generate $2 billion over the next 15 years to clean up contaminated groundwater and improve faulty water systems and wells. “My message is short and direct: We are not Flint, Michigan,” co-author Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said at a Wednesday rally outside the Capitol, where demonstrators held signs reading “Clean water is not a luxury” and “Water is a human right.” Ironically, many Californians are more aware of the crisis in Flint — where state and local officials in 2015 told residents about lead contamination in the […]

Full article: First-ever water tax proposed to tackle unsafe drinking water in California

More about water in California’s Central Valley:

California’s Looming Water Pollution Problem, Produced Water

Sinking land, poisoned water: the dark side of California’s mega farms

How Water Gets From the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles

California’s water wars heat up at Sacramento hearing over river flows

San Joaquin Valley’s contaminated water is like “third world country”

California’s Can’t-Miss Chance to Provide Safe Drinking Water for All