Wednesday, Mar 30 2011 9:20AM
California's Tulare County has received a $2 million grant to launch a study that will help them find ways to purify the area's contaminated drinking water.
California's rural Tulare County is launching a $2 million study in May with the goal of finding ways to purify the contaminated drinking water that has been prevalent in the area for years, reported the Fresno Bee.
During the course of the research, scientists will study hundreds of small
water system services in the Tulare Lake Basin, which is centered in Tulare but also includes parts of Kings, Kern and Fresno counties. However, the newspaper said county residents won't see changes immediately since the study is set to last for three years.
The study will help county officials define which areas are most affected by nitrates, which usually leak from septic systems, dairy waste and fertilizers. The paper said Tulare County water has also been plagued by high levels of naturally occurring arsenic that is unsafe to consume.
County officials began lobbying the state for the grant, awarded through Proposition 84, the safe drinking water bond, in 2007, reported the source.
Seventy out of 181-tap water wells in Tulare county were found to be tainted with nitrates, according to a
previous report by the Bee. Some families in the low-income area have to spend almost $100 a month on bottled water as a result of the contamination.