“Sustainability is the 21st century IQ test,” said Brad Barker, “and you can’t keep postponing your way to sustainability.” Barker, Conservation Chair for Yokuts Sierra Club, was speaking at last Tuesday’s meeting of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. The agenda item concerned approval of a newly-revised groundwater ordinance. Barker was one among many who thought the supervisors had waited too long to regulate pumping groundwater on the county’s east […]
eastern Stanislaus County orchards
Arsenic in the Water? Very Likely
Recent research by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the foothills east of Stockton should raise red flags for anyone concerned about the exponential expansion of orchards in eastern Stanislaus and Merced Counties. The research was conducted in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties as recently as 2011. By far the most alarming discovery was high levels of arsenic in some of the test wells. Most people know of […]