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A public forum about where our water comes from and where it goes during — H20 Origins — is planned 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, in Room 111 of the new Arts and Humanities building at Chico State University.

Becky Holden, assistant director of the Butte Environmental Council, will lead the forum, part of a larger monthly education series

Toxic education Environmental group shines light on Oroville By Tom Gascoyne tomg@newsreview.com This article was published on 11.21.13.

The Butte Environmental Council has launched an educational campaign in Oroville to help alert citizens to the dioxin contamination that has plagued the southern part of town for decades. Billboards demanding action and a series of public forums have been funded by grants from Ventura-based outdoor-clothing company Patagonia Inc. and the Clif Bar Family Foundation. Mark Stemen, president of BEC’s board of directors, said Clif Bar and Patagonia both have campaigns aimed at helping low-income communities deal with the toxic problems they may face. “They were very inspired by the issues and the work we’ve been doing in south Oroville,” Stemen said.

Nani Teves says it’s not too late to do something about Gov. Jerry Brown’s new plan to send North State water south, and she and other local water activists have a plan of their own to inform residents on what’s at stake. Teves, water outreach coordinator for Butte Environmental Council, was referring in a recent interview to BEC’s Code Blue 2013 water outreach campaign, which kicked off on Feb. 5 with a free forum at Chico State called “Ethical Issues and Water: An Interfaith Dialogue.” The Code Blue series of no-cost, water-centric educational events—held “so that people are aware of what’s happening regarding local water, and are given the tools to do something about it”—will run throughout the year.

Included on the Code Blue schedule of free events: a talk titled Science and Politics of North State Water (May 1); an educational field trip (June 8) to the Bay Delta, under which two multibillion-dollar, 40-foot-diameter tunnels are planned to be built to send North State water south; and fall workshops on installing water-conserving gray-water and rainwater-catchment systems.

Nani Teves, Butte Environmental Council’s water-outreach coordinator, sent me a press release announcing “phase two of the Code Blue water engagement campaign.” As some readers may recall, BEC’s 2013 Code Blue water-outreach campaign kicked off on Feb. 5 with a free educational forum at Chico State called “Ethical Issues and Water: An Interfaith Dialogue”; the ongoing series of no-cost, water-centric events will run throughout the year. Phase two—the “action” phase, which will begin Sept. 19—will include gray-water and rainwater-catchment installation workshops, and “actions related to statewide strategies to solving some of the more controversial and political water issues.” Thus, next Thursday (Sept. 19), a free action workshop related to the proposed Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta twin-tunnels project will be held at the Blue Oak Charter School community room (450 W. East Ave.), from 6-7 p.m.