By Russell Clemings / The Fresno Bee
Laws come on heels of plan to improve small water systems
California Rural Legal Assistance group won a pledge from the state Department of Public Health to finish a long-overdue update of a plan for improving small water systems. Photo by David Bacon
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed seven bills aimed at improving drinking water quality.
It was the second round of good news this week for people in poor Valley towns with poor drinking water, following the state agreeing to update a plan for improving small water systems.
Nitrates, arsenic and other drinking water pollutants are common in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, especially Tulare County, focus of a three-part series in The Bee earlier this week called "Don't Drink the Water." Efforts to solve the problem are hindered by the communities' poverty, their inability to hold the attention of agencies that control funding and bureaucratic red tape that has delayed simple fixes.
Most of the bills signed Friday were part of a package introduced this year to help rural residents deal with bad tap water.