Oil wastewater is being used to grow crops in Central California [View all]

[Ichingcarpenter]

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) - If you've lived in Kern County long enough, you've heard the old saying, whether it's from a farmer, on a billboard, or from a politician: "Kern County farmers feed the world."

What a lot of people don't know is that some of the food we sell on a global market - sometimes even marketed as "organic" - is grown using diluted oil wastewater.

"It's hot. It's stinking. There's oil floating on it," said Tom Frantz, a small farmer and environmentalist. "Nobody should be eating that food."

David Ansolabehere, the general manager of the Cawelo Water District, says they have been buying half a million barrels of water from Chevron every day for about 20 years.

Then they dilute it with fresh groundwater.


http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Oil-wastewater-used-on-Kern-County-crops-298949201.html