Fact Sheet 2
ENSTU 300: Critical Thinking & Communication in Environmental Studies
Water Contamination in the Central Valley
Maya Cota, Environmental Studies Program, California State University, Monterey Bay
Tara Lohan, https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/water/articles/2017/07/05/living-in-californias-san-joaquin-valley-may-harm-your-health
Policy Context
The San Joaquin Valley has been an
agricultural hub since the 19th century and
over the last few centuries the land and
resources in the valley have been overused
due to consistent growth in the demand for
the agricultural sector (Escriva-Bou, 2017).
Through the past several decades of
environmental awareness there have been
changes to practices in the Valleys soil and
water use. However, one pervasive issue
regarding water quality is the accumulation
of nitrate in groundwater, due to decades of
intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer and dairy
manure on fields (Escriva-Bou, 2017). Much
of the nitrogen not consumed by crops
moves slowly downward into groundwater
supplies, eventually threatening drinking
water sources (Hanak, 2019).
Federal Water Policy
The Clean Water Act (CWA) or Federal
Water Pollution Control Act was established
in 1972 as the nation began to become more
concerned with the state of the environment.
The act was put in place to “restore and
maintain” all aspects of the nation's water
supply (i.e chemical, biological, physical
integrity). This act has made it so that
discharge of any pollutant into the waters of
the United States is considered unlawful
without a permit. In addition, this act
assumes that the enforcement of technology
usage would make it so that the issue of
pollution would cease. Moreover, the CWA
is responsible for designating use for water
supply, providing individual implementation
plans for public use, agricultural use, fish
and wildlife, industrial use, and recreation.
By enacting more stringent water quality
standards the act requires triennial review of
water sources, and must be approved by the
USEPA. Should the USEPA decide that the
results of the review are not consistent with
the guidelines of the act or the state refuses
to act on the guidelines they will create
water quality standards.
In many cases the USEPA is not
directly involved in the formulation of water
quality standards despite the state's non-
compliance with water quality standards.
Unfortunately, this is a result of insufficient
funding for water quality testing in small
water systems, found in rural communities
or low-income communities, that have
underdeveloped water infrastructure. In
2012 the California Department of Public
Health (CDPH) conducted a study to
identify the state's small water systems that
were not meeting standards detailed in the
CWA. Through this study the CDPH
identified that 50% of the systems that were
not up to standard could be found in the San
Joaquin Valley.
Year Policy Effect
1972 Clean
Water Act
1974 Safe
Drinking
Water Act
1976 The Toxic
Substances
Control
Act
1976 Resource
Conservati
on and
Recovery
Act
1980 CERCLA
Table 1. Brief history of federal policies that
shaped water quality practices.
State Policy
The state of California has long been a
trailblazer of environmental policy with
unique relationships to individual sectors of
environmental concern. In 1969 the
California state government passed the
Porter Cologne act which set precedent for
the Federal Clean water Act by three years.
The Porter-Cologne Act was recognized as
one of the country’s strongest pieces of anti-
pollution legislation. The law was
considered strong enough to become the
basis of the later written Federal Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments. The
State Water Resources Control Board and
Regional Water Quality Control Boards are
a result of the act and are responsible for the
daily implementation of the Porter-Cologne
Act and the CWA.
Management
Act
Table 2. Brief history of state policies that
shape water quality practices in California

Year Policy Effect SGMA and The Irrigated Lands Program

1969 Porter-Cologne The Central Valley Regional Water

Act Quality Control Board is responsible for
several different programs specific to
regulating groundwater quality through
1968 Anti-
Degradation looking at managing sources. The
Policy Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
has created a framework for the boards to
implement Groundwater Sustainability
The Land Agencies in areas that have medium to high
Disposal priority basins (Sustainable Groundwater
Program
Management Act, 2014). The formation of
these agencies supports the notion that there
1999 The Drinking
Water Source is no single solution for groundwater use
Assessment and misuse management across the country,
and Protection
therefore, it is best that the local government
Program
is responsible for the creation and

2003 The Irrigated implementation of regulatory systems

Lands Program (SGMA, 2014). In addition, these agencies
are responsible for forming local
2006 CV-SALTS Groundwater Sustainability Programs
aiming to address lowering of groundwater
levels, reductions in groundwater storage,
2014 Sustainable seawater intrusion, land subsidence surface
Groundwater
water depletion that has a significant and
unreasonable impact on beneficial uses and
degradation of water quality (SGMA, 2014).
The act aims to bring groundwater basins
into balance by 2040 by addressing their
uses and potential sources of degradation.

Moreover, the Groundwater

Sustainability Agencies of the Central
Valley are working alongside programs such
as the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program
(ILRP). This program was formed in 2010
by the Regional Water Board, originally
focusing on limiting the pollutants in water
sources caused by farmland (California
Water Resources Board, 2020). Later the
program began to focus more on addressing
the farmers themselves, urging them to
change their practices in order to reduce
general contaminant output (California
Water Resources Board, 2020). To date,
approximately six million acres of farmland
are enrolled in the ILRP, working to prevent
agricultural discharge from negatively
impacting water quality.

Literature Cited

Brougher, C. M. (2008). California Water

Law and Related Legal Authority
 Affecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. Congressional Research Service.

Escriva-Bou, A., Gray, B., Green, S., Harter,

T., Howitt, R., MacEwan, D., & Seavy,
N. (2017). Water Stress and a Changing
San Joaquin Valley. Public Policy
Institute of California. https://www.
ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_0317E
HR. Pdf.

Hanak, E., Escriva-Bou, A., Gray, B., Green,

S., Harter, T., Jezdimirovic, J., ... &
Seavy, N. (2019). Water and the future
of the San Joaquin Valley. Public
Policy Institute of California, 100.

Singh, A., Quinn, N. W., Benes, S. E., &

Cassel, F. (2020). Policy-driven
sustainable saline drainage disposal and
forage production in the western San
Joaquin Valley of California.
Sustainability, 12(16), 6362.