March eNews: Californians drowning in water debt. How you can help.
It’s been one year, and without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted low-income families and communities of color the hardest.
In the past year we’ve seen community partners without safe tap water struggle to find bottled water to drink. Store shelves could barely remain stocked, unable to keep up with rising demand in those initial months.
At the same time, five million Californians fell behind on their water bills.
But things are starting to look up. Infection rates are declining in many places, vaccines are rolling out, students are gradually going back to school, and businesses are beginning to open again for in-person service.
As we head into year two, we continue to work toward an equitable economic recovery. That includes ending water shutoffs, creating an assistance program to help people pay their water bills, and helping California prepare for a potential drought.
Read how you can help in the stories below.
Adelante,
Susana De Anda
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Thirsty for Change?
UC Merced Student Creates Comic Book to Highlight Water Justice
When UC Merced student Ivan G. Soto was given a school project, he devised a novel way to highlight the struggle for safe water by creating a comic book.
Set in the fictional Central Valley town of Delagua, Carmen and her daughter Yooviko grow concerned with their drinking water and embark on a journey to make their drinking water safe. Along the way they connect with CWC, Community Water Leaders Network (CWLN), and other water leaders.
Increase Your Impact Through Gifts of Stock
Did you know you can donate stock to Community Water Center?
You can. It’s easy, it’s tax-deductible, and it advances access to safe drinking water.
Gifts of stock are a great way to support CWC, because your gift is mutually beneficial — it helps advance the human right to water, while you avoid paying capital gains tax and receive a tax deduction for your donation.
To get started, visit CWC’s Gifts of Stock webpage or contact CWC’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, Natalie Garcia-Grazier at natalie.garcia@communitywatercenter.org or (559) 301-8224.
Bills Aim to Make Water Affordable and Prepare for the Next Big Drought
Water Affordability
Community Water Center, along with allies and community partners, is fighting to help Californians who are drowning in $1 billion in water debt to avoid water shutoffs.
Our coalition is working to pass new state legislation authored by Senator Bill Dodd, SB 222 and SB 223.
These bills will create a new Low-Income Water Affordability program and strengthen shutoff and bill repayment protections.
We must preserve the Human Right to Water and avoid mass water shutoffs across the state.
You can help. Both bills will be heard in the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee and Senate Environmental Quality Committee in April.
Urge your legislators to support affordable water at AffordableWaterForCA.org.
Drought Planning and Preparedness
The 2012-16 drought devastated low-income families and communities of color in the San Joaquin Valley as their wells ran dry. We can’t afford a repeat.
That’s why we’re supporting the Drought Resilient Communities Act (SB 552 – Hertzberg) to help California get ready for the next drought.
It will enhance drought resiliency for California’s most vulnerable communities and will help prevent catastrophic water shortages.
SB 552 is currently in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.
Call your senator and tell them to support SB 552 to ensure drought planning for all Californians - especially low-income residents in rural communities who are particularly vulnerable during droughts.
Find your senator here.
Learn more here.
Meetings and Events
AGUA Coalition Members: The next meeting will be April 19, 5 - 6:30 p.m. Call Christina at (559) 733-0219 to get the Zoom call-in info.
El Comité Members: The next meeting will be on April 30, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.. Call Mayra at (831) 500-2125 to get the Zoom call-in information.
CWC in the News!
More than 25m drink from the worst US water systems, with Latinos most exposed
“The Central Valley produces a variety of food from grapes, almonds, apricots, blueberries and we also create a variety of blended, toxic water. Our groundwater is a toxic blend of nitrates, arsenic, 123 TCP, chromium.”
Susana De Anda, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Community Water Center
The megadrought parching 77 percent of the Western US, explained
“For some folks, the last drought never really ended. There are still homes in the San Joaquin Valley that have been on a water tank since the last drought… I think that the bottom line is that the way things have been done in the entire Western United States, but specifically in the San Joaquin Valley of California, are just clearly unsustainable.”
Ryan Jensen, Community Water Solutions Manager, Community Water Center
“The fact is that, currently, California does not have preparedness plans in place for the most vulnerable communities.”
Erick Orellana, Policy Advocate, Community Water Center
'It's a toxic blend': where the kids are warned not to swallow the bath water
For [Maria] Orozco, bath time cannot be the gentle, fun-splashing experience that so many mothers get to share with their children; for her and the other parents of East Orosi, it’s a matter of their children’s health.
“They’re kids, they don’t listen. They open their mouths and I tell them to spit it out. They spit it out but sometimes they try to swallow. I tell them they have to stop playing around.”
Maria Orozco, East Orosi resident, member of AGUA Coalition and Vecinos Unidos
“It’s a scarcity mentality that causes communities that are doing all right to be hesitant to help out other communities. On a larger scale, it’s not a problem unique just to Orosi. The city of the city of Tulare didn’t want to connect with Matheny Tract. Up and down the Central Valley, there’s these stories of small communities that would like to be connected to a larger community but the larger community is resistant.”
Ryan Jensen, Community Water Solutions Manager, Community Water Center
Local Grandmother Owes $17,000 in Water Bills
“Water is one of the few basic utilities where we don’t have a good safety net around it. We have basic affordability programs for everything from your electricity bill to cell phones but we lack a universal affordability program for water.”
Jonathan Nelson, Policy Director, Community Water Center
Organizations Urge Admin to Address Aging Water Issues
"Drinking water investments is a channel, a pathway to economic recovery. Water is basic PPE – you can't wash your hands without running water. Meeting the huge need for building water infrastructure will lead to jobs, often in the very same communities most hit by the COVID-19 economy.”
Jonathan Nelson, Policy Director, Community Water Center
PFAS Water Lawsuits Expose Financial Impacts on State’s Poor Communities
“We applaud [Assemblywoman Christina Garcia] for taking action on this, but we need more leaders to step up and champion these issues.”
Erick Orellana, Policy Advocate, Community Water Center
See more CWC news coverage here.
New CWC Team Members
We are excited to introduce Ernest Echeveste as our new team member! Ernest joined our Sacramento office this month as a SGMA intern.
As someone whose family was directly impacted by California’s recent historic drought, Ernest understands first-hand the instrumental role that sustainable management of vital natural resources plays for our communities.
Welcome aboard, Ernest!
Read more about Ernest here.
Safe Water Resources
Thank you to our Generous Donors!
Huge thank you to our regular monthly donors, whose continual contributions help to sustain our long-term work toward achieving safe, clean and affordable drinking water!
Anavel Valdez-Lupercio, Arden Wells, Arohi Sharma, Benigna Hernandez, Bessma Mourad, Carly Yoshida, Cassie Morgan, Esperanza Pimentel, F Thomas Biglione, Frank Lukacs, Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, Julia Emerson, Kathryn Gilje, Kathryn Wuelfing, Kelly Archer, Kelsey Hinton, Klara East, Kristin Dobbin, Lara Cushing, Leonard Sklar, Paul Pierce, Sandra Hocker, Sandra Rose, Stephen Gasteyer, Vicki Woods, and Victoria Klug
And thank you to our generous donors for March!
Lisa Hong and Malini Ranganathan
If you would like to donate to CWC, please click here!
If you would like to become a monthly donor, please click here!
