[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6189043,"mediaKeyId","5058814-d815108da3c906a414768d6da304168b","parentId",5058814,"title","Workshop analysis finds small positive link between pesticide intensity and failing water systems around Lamont, Kern County","audioSeconds",3365,"startMs",208000,"endMs",3573000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5058814-d815108da3c906a414768d6da304168b&start=208&end=3573","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5058814-d815108da3c906a414768d6da304168b/thumbnail_208000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6189043/California/Workshop-analysis-finds-small-positive-link-between-pesticide-intensity-and-failing-water-systems-around-Lamont-Kern-County","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6189043-b74ddb5b3c6e23747202f26151d9e4a4/orig.mp4?Expires=1774921211&Signature=cG~N3NcjiTw-7511yg7W-sNPFrD8L8O1dn0DwvGQNrRKloaNa4RYqisS3S91-S4TlPAftZxbl1J4U3syFhIvUzIB0kyU8w6eYdpag398fxt1DcLaK6tLPi6ix5cAcOzbI5acGSE1KVq76wPoNlAGmMf-KL2psu0w99RUnTjXJZhyFi5oAv9ZQx36Z6gOz3s~ep6emNBhSoH2OV4Dgh88pcZ2IpTA6QtYXkB8Q6MsvPAKRKG0o44WQ4hZigxdnfcT6ZD1ej8vljwPgkYioKLChFuw101BT4kC-Y1OCVntniVR9lmgbF1CgkSjG5aVXzPjoM9YsV3obJkJPm3HkbX7lQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","California Water Quality Monitoring Council","date","2025-06-24T21:06:53.81Z","article","A webinar session in a training series on racial-equity data analysis examined why Lamont and nearby areas in Kern County have failing drinking-water systems and how pesticide use may relate to those failures.

The presenters, Hannah, partner at DataMaid, and Anna, workshop co-presenter and organizer, led participants through mapping and a tract-level correlation test using CalEnviroScreen pesticide-intensity percentiles and SAFER risk-assessment data for water systems. Hannah said, \"racial equity is a practice, not a destination,\" as a framing for combining data with community input.

Why it matters: Lamont received SAFER funding to address its drinking-water system after tests found wells exceeding maximum contaminant levels. Participants noted that public-water reliance, the town's majority Hispanic population, and the presence of agricultural land use likely shaped exposure patterns discussed in the session.

What the analysis did: In R, presenters joined SAFER system records (point data) to Census tracts from CalEnviroScreen, aggregated system counts and failing-system counts to the tract level, and regressed the tract pesticide-intensity percentile against the proportion of systems in a tract that were failing. The model produced an R² of about 0.049 (roughly 5%), and a p-value effectively 0, indicating a low probability the observed association was due to chance. Presenters described the relationship as small but statistically detectable.

Caveats and context: Presenters and attendees repeatedly emphasized that correlation does not imply causation. Anna warned researchers to ask why multiple times in a root-cause analysis and to pair numerical findings with community knowledge. Participants raised several alternative or complementary explanations tested or suggested during the workshop: historical pesticide use and legacy contamination, the age and depth of wells, groundwater-level declines that require drilling deeper wells, oil and gas and other ground disturbance, and disparities in funding and regulatory attention in predominantly agricultural and majority‑Hispanic communities.

Workshop suggestions and next steps discussed: attendees and presenters discussed practical follow-ups that fall within regulatory and programmatic practice rather than new legislation. Nicholas, who identified himself as working with a groundwater-monitoring office, described pending probationary hearings with mitigation plans that include notifying residents within a radius of contaminated monitoring wells and offering mitigation such as point-of-use reverse-osmosis systems. Presenters suggested using the SAFER funding dataset to identify candidate systems (failing systems with no SAFER funding since 2017) located in high pesticide-intensity tracts, and then prioritizing outreach or technical support to those systems.

Decisions and formal actions: No formal vote or board decision was taken during the webinar. The session was instructional and exploratory; participants were given code and a GitHub link to reproduce and extend the analysis.

What remains unclear: Workshop discussion referenced a SAFER award to Lamont of about $25,000,000 to fix its drinking-water system in 2023 or 2024 (amount and year cited in the session; not independently confirmed in the transcript). The maximum contaminant level for 1,2,3‑trichloropropane (TCP) was described in the session as having been established in 2017. Several participants noted that pesticide‑use layers may undercount urban pesticide applications and recommended comparing pesticide-intensity maps with land‑use datasets such as the National Land Cover Database.

Ending: Presenters emphasized the analysis as a starting point for targeted engagement and further study, not as proof of causation. They recommended pairing mapped and statistical findings with community outreach, local monitoring data, and multivariable analyses (including race, income, well age and depth) before prioritizing interventions.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Analyzing Data for Racial Equity Training - Module 2: Interrogating Mechanism","oneSentenceSummary","A webinar session in a training series on racial-equity data analysis examined why Lamont and nearby areas in Kern County have failing drinking-water systems and how pesticide use may relate to those failures.","taxTitle","California Water Quality Monitoring Council, Boards and Commissions, Executive, California","taxId",76763,"location","California","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6189038,"Training module teaches root-cause analysis and accessible mapping for equity-focused water data",6216,1000,6217000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5058814-d815108da3c906a414768d6da304168b&start=1&end=6217","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5058814-d815108da3c906a414768d6da304168b/thumbnail_1000.jpg","/articles/6189038/California/Training-module-teaches-root-cause-analysis-and-accessible-mapping-for-equity-focused-water-data","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6189038-b882f52180a7a1c14a6b7897324446ba/orig.mp4?Expires=1774921211&Signature=Fbhlem9OvGl85PnKjpae3RiABrfwvfNm2oh7p~QgxhNilqaJxak9eb6Up0pnqzhIYEB09DidurhKrQOsX~5cOEcIhw0y-Jo6akX3DT76EfP~DV2UL0qtTOU716aHXO3spDJOLR~qaHMfZ~pyR~H4aGZAVcxH0d0Oe-YCo4t8w8zGap7u5r1ByoEAu9WlNpxhtBseJ1UoxwqpGBw3YiTkn-IgnYq1FtzO5mGTJdT1VAqwUIJsboTDW0iMrX9FZP~Xo4P-e5EDx07IPyrqcVVZMzI8GXdqio5Hu9YuD-u-7jNdemrdqBaUGKZkNreZm2fzusTWL8g~IvmJG36D1yT-WA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","An online training session in a two-part series on analyzing data for racial equity focused on root-cause analysis and mapping methods for water-quality and equity questions.

Hannah, partner at DataMaid, and Anna, workshop co-presenter and organizer, led the session. Anna described the core technique as iterative questioning: “ask why a lot, at least 3 times, usually closer to 5 or 6 times,” and recommended bringing community partners into root-cause work so data are paired with lived experience.

Why it matters: Presenters said equity-focused analyses require more than code — they require attention to accessibility, documentation and community engagement. The instructors encouraged participants to plan additional time for accessible visualizations and to include complementary presentation forms (tables, narrative summaries) for audiences who cannot interpret maps.

Mapping and data-work takeaways: The workshop covered common projection choices for California (WGS84 EPSG:4326 for point data, California Albers EPSG:3310 for statewide analysis), the need to reproject layers before spatial joins, and mapping options including choropleths, point maps/dot-density maps, and proportional‑symbol (bubble) maps. Presenters recommended ColorBrewer and Viridis palettes for color-blind accessibility and noted that legends and alternative data summaries help reach broader audiences.

Reproducibility and tools: Participants followed along in R using sf and ggplot2, and instructors shared a GitHub repository with code, sample datasets (CalEnviroScreen pesticide layer, SAFER risk data) and an equity data handbook. Hannah demonstrated filtering tracts at the 75th percentile and overlaying failing-system points with alpha transparency to reveal clustering. The GitHub code was offered to help staff reproduce analyses and to create reusable functions for prioritizing candidate systems by county, population served, or demographic variables.

Audience Q&A and practice: Breakout groups ran a ten‑minute root-cause exercise on Lamont, then reported hypotheses about exposure pathways (drinking water, bathing) and causes (agricultural pesticide use, legacy contamination, well age, underinvestment in disadvantaged communities). Several attendees suggested next steps: cross-check pesticide layers with land-use data, run multivariable regressions including race and income, and validate findings through local monitoring and community interviews.

Ending: Presenters closed by emphasizing that analytic work is an iterative practice that benefits from peer review and community partnership. They provided links to the GitHub repository, the equity data handbook and a feedback survey for future modules.","An online module led by DataMaid and workshop co-organizers covered root-cause analysis, mapping best practices (projections, color palettes, accessibility) and reproducible R workflows using CalEnviroScreen and SAFER data.","actionData","errors"]

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Workshop analysis finds small positive link between pesticide intensity and failing water systems around Lamont, Kern County

Training module teaches root-cause analysis and accessible mapping for equity-focused water data