The State Water Resources Control Board was in Bakersfield to talk to residents about getting rid of a cancer causing agent in local drinking water. The Board will set stricter standards on how much of the pesticide by-product 1,2,3-TCP can be in the region’s 117 wells next year, but director Cindi Forbes thinks the clean up will be inexpensive with the cost varying by site. Forbes also says the state may shoulder some of that burden.

Pesticides with 1,2,3-TCP were used in Kern County until 2007 to kill worms. Any new regulation would not affect private wells.

Kelli Forsch