David McNeir is a bishop of his church and a man of faith. But he has found himself banging his hand on a table more than once when negotiating with public health authorities for clean drinking water.

"We've always had bad water," said McNeir, a cannery employee who lives in Monterey Park Tract, an area southwest of Modesto flanked by dairies and farms. "We've been on a list for a project now for four or five years. We've applied for every kind of grant there is."

Up and down the Central Valley, the frustration is palpable.

After years of effort by community activists, politicians and even young teens, the state's progress toward clean water for all is dwarfed by discoveries of more problems. Residents continue to rely on groundwater tainted by pesticides, nitrates, industrial chemicals and arsenic.

Californians have voted twice for bond money to ensure clean water, with $230 million in grants and loans aimed at mostly small and disadvantaged communities.

The state also receives annual federal money for clean-water projects, this year totaling $67 million. And, thanks to the federal stimulus plan, the state's getting another $160 million bump.

But a 2007 federal study estimated it will take $39 billion over 20 years to improve California's drinking water quality.

Adding to delays is the fact that budget problems forced the state to stop taking applications for bond money in December.

"Having money frozen is 10 steps back," said Susana De Anda of the Community Water Organization in Visalia.

De Anda's group has decided it's time to try a new tack: Pass a state law declaring clean water a human right.

A grass-roots movement

Joanna Mendoza, a 13-year-old in the Tulare County town of Cutler, said families are tired of receiving official warnings that their water contains a pesticide linked to cancer.

Residents spend money every month to buy bottled water, on top of paying for what comes out of the tap.

"The only thing that ever changes on those notices is the date," said Mendoza, who belongs to Youths for Water, a group of Central Valley teenagers who are urging their water districts to find ways to improve water quality.

Two decades ago, Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union rallied farmworkers in the Central Valley to demand better drinking water. As awareness and testing for contaminants grew, water districts and even entire communities have joined the call for action.

That's happening in Monterey Park Tract, where McNeir is chairman of a small utility district that provides water to 48 homes.

In November the state dropped the maximum allowable level of arsenic from 50 to 10 micrograms per liter of water. One well in Monterey Park Tract has three times that standard.

For two decades, McNeir said, local wells also have violated the standard for nitrates, which seep into groundwater from leaking septic tanks, farm fertilizers and – as the state's dairy industry has grown – cow manure.

Attempts to dig new wells have run into more pollution, and efforts to find funding sources have failed.

Now, McNeir's district is looking for money to drill a cleaner well farther away or to tap into a neighboring city's water system.

A growing problem

Officials at California's Public Health Department acknowledge it's difficult to monitor 8,000 public water systems and enforce more than 100 drinking water standards and regulations.

With limited funding, money goes first to water systems contaminated by an acute bacteriological threat, such as fecal matter that can sicken someone instantly. In those cases, the law requires public health authorities to act swiftly, ordering districts to close wells or provide bottled water.

It's much harder to get prompt action when contaminants pose long-term health threats, such as cancer risks.

Yet that may be the biggest challenge.

In November, California followed the federal government in setting a lower safety standard for arsenic in drinking water. That decision meant scores of water systems suddenly were serving up too much arsenic with their drinking water.

Call Susan Ferriss, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1267.