Said the plaintiff's attorney, Kara Brodfuehrer: "This plan is very important because it outlines all the problems, identifies funding sources and takes into account the affordability of the solving the problems."

Affordability is a key, says Tulare County Supervisor Allen Ishida, who has taken a lead role in water cleanup for his county. Towns must be able to pay for maintenance and updates to any fixes.

Ishida said he wants to see regional solutions, such as hooking small towns to larger city systems. He said longer-term thinking is needed as well.

He cited western Tulare County's troubles with arsenic. Because of tighter standards, the area might be better off getting river water instead of building treatment plants for the underground water.

He said he knows that would take a long time, but it might be cheaper in the long run than building treatment plants for ever-tightening water standards on arsenic.

"Government has been very reactive but never looked at long-term solutions," Ishida said. "Everybody's trying to address problems on an individual basis. It's time to look at a bigger picture."

It is also time for the state to take leadership, says lawyer Laurel Firestone, co-director of the Community Water Center in Visalia.

She said 75% of the water systems with nitrate violations in California are in the Valley. Yet the state lacks any kind of plan to address the problem, she said.

"Right now, all they have is a project list for current projects, few of which seem to be actually moving," Firestone said. "And at the end of 10 years, there will likely be at least $150 million more in projects waiting."