Fear at the tap: Uranium contaminates water in some California communities

Uranium is the stuff of nuclear fuel for power plants and atom bombs.

It increasingly is showing in drinking water systems in major farming regions of the U.S. West – a natural though unexpected byproduct of irrigation, drought and the over pumping of natural underground water reserves.

An Associated Press investigation in California’s central farm valleys – along with the U.S. Central Plains, among the areas most affected – found authorities are doing little to inform the public at large of the risk.

Government authorities say long-term exposure to uranium can damage kidneys and raise cancer risks.

Entities ranging from state agencies to tiny rural schools are scrambling to deal with hundreds of tainted public wells.