The Tulare and Salinas Basins – home to half of California’s cow population and 40 percent of its irrigated agricultural land – are vital assets to the state of California. But the area also possesses a significant threat to its 2.6 million residents, and until now most of them were unaware of it.

A recent report compiled by researchers at UC Davis investigated the safety of drinking water in the Tulare and Salinas Basins. The study was performed in response to state legislation passed in 2008 requiring a detailed examination of nitrate levels in the Tulare Lake Basin, which includes Fresno and Bakersfield, and the Salinas Valley, which includes Salinas and areas near Monterey.

“These are two areas that have a history of pretty high nitrate contamination in their ground water,” said George Kostyrko, director of the Office of Public Affairs at the California State Water Resource Control Board.

According to the report, “Addressing Nitrate in California’s Drinking Water,” they found that one in 10 people living in these areas were at risk of exposure to harmful levels of nitrate contamination. These people rely on groundwater that may exceed the nitrate standard of 45 milligrams per liter, which was set by the California Department of Public Health for public water works.

Jay Lund, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and co-author of the report, said this problem is likely to continually worsen in the coming decades.

“It takes, on average, between five and 30 years for the nitrate that enters the surface to make its way into our drinking water. So, given that long time delay, it would take a very, very long time for that nitration to no longer exist in the groundwater,” Lund said.

According to Lund, the study focused on where the nitrates are coming from and what we can do to reduce levels. Researchers examined data from wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, parks, lawns, golf courses and farms.

Significantly, agricultural fertilizers and animal manure applied to cropland are the two largest regional sources of the nitrate that leaks into the ground water, making up more than 90 percent of the total.

Since the 1940s, the use of nitrogen in organic and synthetic fertilizers has substantially increased crop production in California but at a considerable cost. Nitrate from the surface nitrogen has continually leaked into groundwater.

Although the report did not go into detail about the effects of nitrate consumption on human health, according to the press release, there is an understanding among the medical community that nitrate intake has been linked to thyroid illnesses, some cancers and reproductive problems.

As a result, the study looked into finding solutions to reduce nitrate levels in the short term to provide safe drinking water to residents of Tulare and the Salinas Basin. In the long term, the researchers hope to continually reduce nitrate levels by improving and possibly changing fertilizer management and water treatment.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. The more promising options are going to be location-specific,” said Thomas Harter of the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and co-author of the report. “The type of water source, the agricultural practices of that area and the proximity of the communities to the contaminated water are all key parts to finding a solution.”

Now that the report is finished, the California State Water Board will be conducting a public workshop on May 23 to discuss the findings and solutions outlined in the report with the public.

“Our role after the public workshop will be to look at the report and public comments and put together a report ourselves to submit to the state water board with specific recommendations,” said Kostyrko.

Lund concluded that California, because of its strong agricultural industry, will always have a problem with nitrate contamination, but the main goal is to reduce this problem and provide safe drinking water.

CLAIRE MALDARELLI can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

The UC Davis Cancer Center has recently achieved a “comprehensive” designation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland.

The new “comprehensive” designation signifies that the Cancer Center, now called the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, has demonstrated major levels of achievement in research and patient care, according to Ralph de Vere White, the director of the center.

The National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, was set up to defeat cancer.

However, the NCI “can’t do everything to defeat cancer in Bethesda,” de Vere White said.

The UC Davis center will receive continued infrastructure funding from NCI to support its comprehensive activities. Funding from NCI for the infrastructure of the UC Davis program has grown from $8.8 million to $35 million in the last 10 years.

“Our center crosses the whole campus,” de Vere White said.  “We see ourselves as a campus-wide resource.”

In addition to the patient services provided by the Comprehensive Cancer Center, there are six programs under which the center’s research work is organized: Molecular Oncology, Population Sciences and Health Disparities, Comparative Oncology, Prostate Cancer, Cancer Therapeutics and Biomedical Technology.

“In less than 10 years we [made it to] ‘major league’ status,” said Moon S. Chen, Jr., co-leader of the Population Sciences and Health Disparities program and associate director of cancer control at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Recently the NCI sent 26 people to UC Davis to verify and review the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s activities.

“You’re not ‘major league’ until you pass all these tests. You have to be very good,” said Chen, who pointed out that the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is now part of a group of 41 cancer centers nationwide that have achieved comprehensive status.

Wolf-Dietrich D. Heyer, co-leader of the Molecular Oncology program and chair of the department of microbiology, agrees.

“This designation is the proverbial ‘big deal,’” Heyer said. “UC Davis is now in the same category as MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic — institutions which are among the world leaders in cancer research and treatment.”

De Vere White explains that the main goal is to learn how to treat cancer better.

“Our treatment just isn’t good enough,” said de Vere White, who explained that the researchers and physicians of the Cancer Center seek to “make available early treatment and prevention to everyone.”

In comparison with other racial and cultural groups, Asian Americans show increased rates of liver cancer, while Latinos show comparatively decreased rates of colonoscopy procedures and Native American women are less likely to seek mammogram tests. California is unique among U.S. states in that it has the largest populations of Asian Americans, Native Americans and Latinos in the country.

“We have both the opportunity and the obligation to make sure we are serving each of these racial groups,” Chen said.

As part of the effort to improve treatment, de Vere White stressed the importance of “integration of effort” and seeks to enhance cooperation among researchers among the five UC campuses which have medical centers and medical schools: UC San Francisco, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego, UC Irvine and UC Davis.

“Our obligation is not to hold any secrets but to share our findings and discoveries with all humanity,” Chen said.

Now all five cancer centers at the five UC campuses have achieved “comprehensive” status. The UC Davis Cancer Center is also part of a local network, called the Cancer Care Network (CCN), of cancer centers located in Merced, Pleasanton, Sacramento, Marysville and Truckee.

BRIAN RILEY can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

In people, lutein is mostly concentrated in the eyes, where it keeps us safe from the stress of high-energy blue light. There’s ongoing research as to whether lutein can help victims of high light-sensitivity or cataracts, but for now, just keep eating your vegetables.

AMY STEWART can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

HUDSON LOFCHIE can be reached at science@theaggie.org.