Fertilizer nitrate pollution is killing our communities. We must stop this public health crisis now.

When you turn on your tap, is the water safe to drink? Is it safe to cook and shower with? These are questions most Californians don’t think about. However, the 350 residents of the San Jerardo Cooperative have suffered health problems from unsafe water, and worry about it constantly. Thousands more Central Coast residents do not have clean drinking water due to nitrate pollution from agricultural practices. The State must address this ongoing public health crisis now, starting with curbing fertilizer overuse.

San Jerardo is a farmworker housing cooperative in the heart of the Salinas Valley. The Salinas River meanders through it, feeding groundwater that is used for farming and drinking, before making its way to Monterey Bay.

Within this idyllic scenery lies a dark truth: Much of the water in the Salinas Valley is undrinkable, and the lower Salinas River is not safe for swimming. Forty-two percent of on-farm drinking wells in Monterey County exceed safe consumption levels for nitrate. A 2012 UC Davis study concluded that 96 percent of nitrate groundwater pollution in the Salinas Valley and Tulare Lake Basin comes from farms. Too much nitrate can cause oxygen deprivation in infants, or “blue baby syndrome.” In adults, nitrates can cause thyroid disease and colon cancer.

For years, high nitrate levels in the community’s well forced San Jerardo residents to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking. Through the tireless advocacy of residents and $6 million in public funds, the community drilled a new well. However, nitrate concentrations in that well are now approaching undrinkable levels.

The nitrate crisis is widespread and worsening across the Central Coast. Other towns, such as San Lucas, have relied on bottled water for years. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board found that more communities will face undrinkable waters unless growers drastically reduce fertilizer nitrate pollution.

Unfortunately, California’s clean water regulator has failed for years to tackle the problem.

In its 2021 Agricultural Order, the Central Coast Water Board approved fertilizer limits, the first in California’s history. However, the State Water Board removed these limits, leaving only vague and unenforceable targets.

In October, Monterey Waterkeeper, San Jerardo and a coalition of farmworker and fishing groups, filed suit against the State Water Board’s unlawful rollback of nitrate standards. We asked the court to reinstate pollution limits while the case is pending. The lawsuit also demands that the Central Coast Water Board require natural buffers around farms to filter out pollution before it reaches rivers.

If we don’t reduce nitrate pollution at the source, even more of our drinking water, rivers and beloved coast will be poisoned. Please join us in protecting our collective health and the environment.

CHELSEA TU is executive director of Monterey Waterkeeper. ILEANA MIRANDA is general manager of the San Jerardo housing cooperative in the Salinas Valley.