"California’s Plan to Tackle a Carcinogen Widespread in Water"

"Decades after declaring 1,2,3-TCP a carcinogen, California is finally regulating the toxin. But the cost of remediation will be high and communities are turning toward litigation to pay for water treatment."

"If you drive Highway 99 through California’s Central Valley, you’ll pass through the heart of farm country, where the state’s bounty blooms with hundreds of crops – everything from peaches to pistachios, from tangerines to tomatoes. You’ll also pass through dozens of communities, large and small, whose water systems are tainted by a newly regulated contaminant, 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP), which for decades was used in agricultural fumigants injected into farmland across the Valley.

On July 18, the State Water Resources Control Board unanimously voted to adopt a drinking water standard for regulating TCP, a manmade chemical the state designated as a carcinogen a quarter-century ago. As a result, water agencies will soon have to start testing for TCP in their water, and those that can’t take contaminated wells out of service or blend the water with cleaner sources will need to construct costly treatment systems. For smaller and low-income communities, the added expense could be more than ratepayers can bear. Water systems may need to spend anywhere from $22,668 to $473,740 per year to meet the new standard, according to State Water Board estimates."

Tara Lohan reports for Water Deeply August 10, 2017.