san joaquin valley
Number of uninsured in California counties grew during recession
A new fact sheet from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research provides detailed county-by-county estimates of the number of California residents who have lost health insurance during the economic downturn.
Following on a statewide estimate pu…
Nature’s filter: Wetlands clean selenium from agricultural runoff
Researchers have found a natural detox program for selenium-contaminated farm runoff in the form of wetland vegetation and microbes. Results from a two-year study show that man-made wetlands in California’s San Joaquin Valley were able to remove an average of 69.2 percent of the selenium in agricultural drainage water. More significantly, some plant populations showed remarkable promise at converting selenium into a harmless gas consisting primarily of dimethyl selenide. That means less of the selenium would end up in sediment or plant tissue.