More frequent, intense and destructive fires fueled by climate change cause far more death and illness than official tallies capture.
Environmental Health
Salinas Valley farmworkers, facing rising nitrate-tainted wells, are pushing for fertilizer limits and suing regulators. Meanwhile, many are reyling on bottled water to avoid the health risks stemming from contaminated wells.
Heavy fertilizer use in the Salinas Valley pollutes water with nitrates. Experts are pushing for limits, but regulation has stalled, leaving 14,000 people exposed to health risks.
Farmworker communities in the Salinas Valley face a host of health risks from nitrate-polluted wells in the region.
The California community of Patterson stopped efforts to address a drinking water contaminant not because it was no longer an issue but because the city couldn’t afford remediation. Now residents say needs to do more to address their growing concerns.
Residentes de un parque de casas móviles en Hughson enfrentan contaminación del agua con nitratos y uranio, sin acceso seguro ni soluciones inmediatas pese a advertencias estatales.
Data collected by the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District indicate that hydrogen sulfide is consistently detected in the air.
Although there is not yet enough data to document chronic exposure, readings taken in South County indicate cause for concern.
A custom dataset shows toxic cleanups take far longer in marginalized Bay Area communities — even for comparable sites like underground storage tanks.
Many pier fishermen in Southern California still eat DDT-contaminated fish, while government efforts struggle to address the region's lingering toxic legacy.