Rules aimed at long-contaminated groundwater drive California farmers and residents to court

Near fields awash with strawberries and greens, Ileana Miranda and her family pay $72 a month to get water piped into their home in a rural California community — and that's before they consume a drop. Now, the San Jerardo cooperative — where Miranda and 300 others live — and environmental organizations have sued the state, demanding stricter rules about how much fertilizer farmers can use in the hope that the next generation of residents in the community 100 miles (161 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco will have cleaner water. “We understand crops need these chemicals to grow, but you don't need to put that much in the groundwater,” said Miranda, who manages the cooperative.