Wastewater Testing

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Pyrethroids—Gardeners Best Friend Versus Fishy Foe

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Spring is underway, and across California, gardeners and farmers are combating the season’s annual pest problem: insects. But the pesticides that protect our roses and our lettuce may be harming more than just the bugs. Pesticides, in particular pyrethroids, are making their way from our gardens, farms, and houses into our watersheds, where they pose a serious threat to California’s aquatic populations. With annual pesticide use expected to peak in the coming months, now is the time to ask some questions. What are pyrethroids? How are they impacting our water systems? What is being done to mitigate the potential problems associated with their use?

Since the late 19th century, pyrethroids have been around and are similar to some naturally occurring insecticides, called pyrethrins, found in chrysanthemum flowers. But unlike pyrethrins, pyrethroids are manufactured chemicals designed to quickly incapacitate insect nervous systems and simultaneously resist environmental degradation. Their low toxicity to humans, mammals, and birds makes them ideal for a variety of agricultural, public health, and domestic purposes. Pyrethroid compounds are effective insecticides employed on farms and in homes across the US. In particular, pyrethroids are an efficient…

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Portantino Leads Effort to Manage CECs in CA

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Over the last decade, advancements in analytical testing technologies have revealed new categories of previously undetectable substances now dubbed as CECs—Constituents of Emerging Concern. This ever broadening group of chemicals and microorganisms pose unprecedented technical, legal, and financial challenges; but arguably, the biggest hurdle is the lack of available information about the persistence, prevalence, or toxicity of many substances referred to as CECs. In an effort to fill those data gaps, Senator Portantino introduced Senate Bill Number 230 (SB 230) to California’s State legislature this year. The bill, which seems to enjoy wide support from water agencies, would mark the first state-wide effort to address CECs as a category.

While information has grown over the past few years, most research has focused on high-profile chemicals or chemical families. This is partially because CECs are such an immense and diverse category; any new or newly detected and unregulated substance found in California’s waters is considered a CEC. This broad definition encompasses thousands of …

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Congress and States Take Action Against PFAS

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Amid nationwide pressure to end the toxic legacy of these “forever chemicals,” a new tide of state and federal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) legislation is inundating the country. Last month, Michigan Representatives Debbie Dingell and Fred Upton, along with 25 other members of Congress, introduced a bold new PFAS Action Act to the House of Representatives. The proposed bill includes some far-reaching provisions like establishing certain PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law--an action that remains highly controversial.

This year alone, over 180 bills concerned with PFAS will be under consideration in 27 states. Many of these laws aim to establish safe drinking water levels, phase out PFAS based firefighting foams, allocate money towards research and remediation of PFAS, and address PFAS in consumer products, particularly in food packaging. Outside California, states that have recently passed laws concerning PFAS include…

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PFAS Remediation - Time To Clean Up Our Act

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With our world waking up to the realization some everyday products contain forever chemicals known as PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, scientists and engineers are working to find the most cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally responsible way to remediate them. The financial and technical challenges of remediating PFAS are cause for serious concern. With over 2,300 contaminated sites across the United States to clean-up, we need an efficient method for removing these toxic chemicals from our water, soil, and biota. But remediation efforts currently face two enormous hurdles: who will pay, and how will we clean up the environmental mess we are just beginning to uncover?

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SWB Shows Renewed Focus on Constituents of Emerging Concern

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Man-made chemicals are everywhere in our modern world—in pharmaceuticals, health care products, pesticides, and cookware. But a vast array of the same chemicals present in our household goods also contaminate our environment and aquatic ecosystems. These Constituents of Emerging Concern, or CECs, are gaining notoriety as potential hazards to marine environments, aquatic wildlife, and human health. In response to rapid advancements in testing and a growing body of literature surrounding emerging contaminants, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) was asked by the State Water Board (SWB) in April 2020, to reconvene the CEC Ecosystem Panel. The panel, tasked with updating previous recommendations for monitoring CECs, is on track to produce a new report by…

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Local Water Quality: Regional Boards Have a Plan For That!

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Water is a foundational, and frequently contentious, aspect of California’s legislation and history. Laws governing water rights were some of the first laws passed after California gained statehood in 1850. By the turn of the century, California had created the first iteration of what is now the State Water Board and published the first version of the state water plan. But by the 1940s, rapid urban and industrial development led to increased concern over water quality. The next few decades oversaw the establishment of what are now California’s key water quality regulators: the Regional Water Quality Control Boards.

The modern regional boards are rooted in the 1949 Dickey Water Pollution Act, which established the first State Water Pollution Control Board and corresponding regional boards. The Act recognized that water problems throughout the state varied based on regional precipitation, climate, topography, population, and development. To address these variances, lawmakers created…