MARCH ROUNDUP
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the much-anticipated PFAS maximum contaminant level (MCL) proposed regulations. We advocate a risk-based approach to identifying, addressing and prioritizing the challenges associated with delivering safe drinking water, including emerging contaminants.

Read our full Council statement to learn more about what we hope to find in the proposed rule.
Water Advisory Insights

Check out episode 120 of the Grateful Heart TV podcast to hear Council Member Kathryn Sorenson speak with Rachel Hidalgo and Gary Hix about Arizona’s water issues. They discuss the current water issues and shortages, dispel myths and misconceptions in the news and uncover some solutions the state is taking to ensure a sustainable water future.
Council member Janet Anderson recently sat down with Kevin Westerling of Water Online to discuss a risk-based approach to water regulations and policy. With limited funding and resources, it’s essential that decision makers take a risk-based approach to setting drinking water priorities in order to have the most meaningful reduction in public health risk.

AP News recently reported on the EPA’s assertion that “public water systems are increasingly at risk from cyberattacks that amount to a threat to public health.” Council member Manny Teodoro contributed his thoughts on the susceptibility of the nation’s most vulnerable water systems to cybersecurity threats, stating that the largest barrier to effective cybersecurity is organizational capacity. 
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of thousands of chemicals, two of which are known to be toxic to humans. These two chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), are no longer produced in the United States.

However, they have recently been a topic of public concern, especially in regard to drinking water contamination. Other PFAS chemicals are used in consumer products including semiconductors, cellphones, textiles, renewable energy, and medical devices. Visit our website to discover science-based answers to some of the most pressing PFAS questions.
Water News
The state has been deluged by storms this winter, hit by 12 atmospheric rivers that have led to evacuation orders, rising rivers and broken levees. In some parts of the Sierra Nevada, more than 55 feet of snow have fallen. With reservoirs filling up, many Californians are eager to put the severe, 3-year drought behind them. A major water supplier in Southern California recently lifted mandatory conservation rules that limited outdoor watering. Large parts of the state are now free of drought, according to the federal government's Drought Monitor, which looks at rainfall and soil moisture.
But in California, water shortages aren't just due to a lack of rain, and the state's chronic water problems are far from over.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the nation’s first drinking-water standards for a group of human-made chemicals — commonplace in consumer items — that pose a greater danger to human health than scientists once thought. The proposal could force water utilities to spend billions of dollars to comply with the EPA’s planned limits on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, even though those limits are less stringent than advisory levels for safe consumption the agency set last year. Officials say that small and rural utilities will have access to federal subsidies and assistance, blunting the financial impact of the rule, if enacted.
This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing a memorandum stressing the need for states to assess cybersecurity risk at drinking water systems to protect our public drinking water. While some public water systems (PWSs) have taken important steps to improve their cybersecurity, a recent survey and reports of cyber-attacks show that many have not adopted basic cybersecurity best practices and are at risk of cyber-attacks — whether from an individual, criminal collective, or a sophisticated state or state-sponsored actor. This memorandum requires states to survey cyber security best practices at PWSs.
With torrential rains drenching California, state water regulators have endorsed a plan to divert floodwaters from the San Joaquin River to replenish groundwater that has been depleted by heavy agricultural pumping during three years of record drought.
The State Water Resources Control Board approved a request by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to take more than 600,000 acre-feet from the river and send much of that water flowing to areas where it can spread out, soak into the ground and percolate down to the aquifer beneath the San Joaquin Valley.
Connect with us