Two Half Moon Bay Review reporters featured ANR experts in unrelated news stories on the same day this week. Mark Noack opened his article about growing public acceptance of "recycled" water with an anecdote from UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Paul Vossen.
Vossen told the reporter that, years ago, participants on a research plot tour willingly munched on fresh vegetables that had been irrigated with treated sewage water.
“Our conclusion at the end of our survey was that 95 percent of people have no problem with using recycled water,” Vossen was quoted. “There was only one really concerned person out of all the people we interviewed — ‘Oh my gosh!’ he said. ‘You can’t use this water! You’ll poison everybody!’”
Reporter Greg Thomas talked with UC Berkeley forestry pathologist Matteo Garbelotto for a Sudden Oak Death overview. The story contained information about the disease's introduction and spread, and concluded with a ray of hope for its eventual control.
Thomas wrote that Garbelotto has discovered a handful of tanoaks unaffected by the disease. Acorns from those trees were collected and are being studied at UC Berkeley.