drinking water

The nationwide cost to treat or replace contaminated drinking water is estimated at $1.5 billion a year. The ubiquitous chemicals, linked to cancer and other diseases, build up in people and the environment.

California, Arizona and Nevada would cut their allocations about 20% when reservoir levels drop. But other states have their own opposing plan. Now the federal government has to decide how to manage the drought-plagued river.

Researchers say if California could collect and treat more stormwater in cities, it could provide enough water to supply a quarter of the state’s urban population.

A long-awaited, controversial report weighs updates to standards that state officials say have failed to protect fish and wildlife. But environmentalists, Native tribes and others already are furious about how long this has taken — and the state is years away from putting a plan into action.

The irrigation bill, which aims to force businesses and institutions to remove their lawns, now goes to the governor.

Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it’s piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state’s new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.

After California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and then recreational cannabis two decades later, one might think that for many patients, the state would be a sanctuary for seeking treatment.  But as CalMatters’ state Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains, those who rely on cannabis to treat pain, seizures, glaucoma and other ailments say that despite […]

From CalMatters’ health reporter Kristen Hwang and political reporter Alexei Koseff: Gov. Gavin Newsom and a cadre of Democratic lawmakers want to be clear: They will protect medication abortion in California no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court decides on the issue — they’re just not entirely sure how. In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, […]

Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Francisco’s MUNI, Los Angeles Metro and transit agencies across the state are struggling to keep afloat. Public transit ridership in California hasn’t recovered since plummeting during the pandemic. And since then, transit agencies have been anticipating a “fiscal cliff” — a steep drop in revenue combined with the end of […]

Groundwater plans, largely serving low-income Latino communities, were deemed inadequate for preventing dry wells and sinking land.