December eNews: Help us raise $100,000 for water justice!
Ruth Martinez, of Ducor, CA, with community activists at the Capitol, advocating for safe and affordable drinking water.
For decades community leader Ruth Martinez has advocated for safe water in California at the local and state level — and as of this year, before Congress. This fall, Ruth joined CWC's federal advocate Jonathan Nelson in a virtual meeting with Senator Bernie Sander's office, to urge greater urgency on the issue of water affordability. During the meeting, Ruth's testimony left an indelible impression on everyone who attended by sharing her community's struggles with nitrate contamination and drinking water supply issues — a deep agricultural well was permitted just 250 feet from their community well, threatening their water security. Solutions to these issues will be costly to the mostly low-income residents of Ducor and funding will be critical to ensure access to safe drinking water.
It's no coincidence that the Build Back Better package passed by Congress included roughly $11 billion for infrastructure investment in safe drinking water.
We need more leaders like Ruth to end the drinking water crisis and push for action. Donate today so CWC can connect more powerful community voices like Ruth’s to key decision makers on water policy at the local, state and federal levels.
You can donate one-time, set up a monthly recurring donation or support CWC through one of our new donation options below!
Adelante,
Susana De Anda
Co-Founder and Executive Director
State Takes Key Steps to Protect Groundwater for Small, Rural Communities
This month, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) made it clear that overlooking small, rural communities of color when it comes to groundwater management will no longer be accepted. Twenty-seven groundwater plans — primarily in the San Joaquin Valley — submitted by local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) were warned they will fail approval unless major revisions are made to better address how they plan to protect domestic well communities from losing their water supplies.
The plan reviews released by DWR cover groundwater basins in the San Joaquin Valley where groundwater levels have been dropping for decades largely due to extraction to support large-scale agriculture in the region. In these basins, 100,000 people — mostly rural residents depending on shallow, domestic wells — are at risk of losing their water supply if the current rate of groundwater extraction continues. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act — passed in 2014 amid a historic and devastating drought — was intended to reverse that continuing decline.
Last Thursday, advocates and impacted community residents met with DWR staff to discuss the importance of sustainable groundwater management including programs and funding to address any impacted wells. DWR is receptive to these concerns and is open to the possibility of providing guidelines for well mitigation plans in the coming year. This transparent and direct community listening session is what is needed to empower communities with a seat at the decision making table.
Although there is more work to be done to ensure GSAs are adequately addressing all user needs in their basin, this sends a clear signal that the status quo of overlooking thousands of domestic well users is no longer acceptable to DWR.
Central Coast Private Wells Tested for PFAS Contamination
Have you heard of the contaminant PFAS? It’s estimated that PFAS can be found in the bodies of 98% of Americans. You read that right — almost every person in the US has been exposed to PFAS contamination. This year, Community Water Center began working with the Natural Resources Defense Council to provide free well testing for the prevalence of PFAS. Five wells in the Central Coast have been tested so far, and we will be testing six more wells in the San Joaquin Valley in early 2022. Once enough information has been gathered on the prevalence of PFAS in rural drinking water supplies, we will be able to advocate for more resources to be provided to these communities to address the problem.
Learn more about these prevalent contaminants below:
What are PFAS?
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (better known as PFAS) are a group of thousands of chemicals used in the creation of many everyday products, often unnecessarily. Due to their widespread use and resistance to breaking down, these chemicals have contaminated the air, soil, water, plants, wildlife—even our own bodies.
How does PFAS end up in our water?
PFAS may be found in the drinking water because of local contamination events including the use of certain water-resistant products, firefighting foams or leaching from landfills.
What health risks do PFAS pose?
These chemicals are linked to a variety of health problems, among them cancer, kidney and liver damage, immune system disruption and developmental issues.
Learn more about PFAS chemicals here and stay tuned for updates on this work next year.
If movies and John Oliver are more your speed, check out the links to learn more about PFAS and why it's so important we get it out of our drinking water.
CWC in the News!
Who should pay to fix California’s sunken canals?
“To say that rural communities should be happy because they get what’s left over [in the Friant Kern Canal] from industry is the problem. We’ve seen this in the environmental justice movement forever.”
- Kyle Jones, Policy & Legal Director
Despite California groundwater law, aquifers keep dropping in a ‘race to the bottom’
“We see that as an inequity and a disparity that needs to be addressed,” Orellana said. “And so we cannot have wealthy white farmers thinking that they have the right to water, they have the right to their land, more so than Latino communities.”
-Erick Orellana, Policy Advocate
State tells San Joaquin Valley agencies that groundwater plans are flawed
“We can’t have wells go dry for 20 years anticipating that at the very end some pumping restrictions will come into play to balance out the basin,” Massey said. “SGMA is supposed to gradually get us to sustainability, but along the way they need to make progress. And they can’t just sacrifice drinking water users in order to maximize profits from pumping.”
-Justine Massey, Policy Manager & Attorney
Water shutoffs loom for thousands of Californians after agencies failed to apply for millions in relief
“It’s disappointing to see so many fail to apply for what is by all intents and purposes free money for families,” Saldivar said. “All of the households within these service areas are going to have to front the bill or seek outside help. We’re expecting a lot of shut-off notices.”
-Uriel Saldivar, Senior Policy Advocate
This Central Valley Town Has a Carcinogen in its Water. Why Are Solutions So Slow?
But Bryan Osorio...said the state’s noticing requirements for Spanish speakers fall short of what residents need to understand their water situation. Not providing translated information shifts the burden onto residents, who often “don’t know why they should (seek out translation) if they can’t understand what the main message is,” Osario said.
To ensure people have equitable access to information about their water supply, the state should require districts to provide full translations of the notices in Spanish, he said. The state also needs to invest in outreach to non-English speakers in general.
-Bryan Osorio, Community Solutions Advocate
Water bill debt has hit Valley families hard. Help could be coming for some – but not all
Saldivar says this concern highlights the need for more permanent rate assistance programs for customers with lower incomes. Senate Bill 222, introduced by California Sen. Bill Dodd, would set up such a program.
-Uriel Saldivar, Senior Policy Advocate
New CWC Team Member
We are excited to introduce Shirley Robles as our new team member! Shirley joined our Watsonville office this month as Community Solutions Advocate. Welcome aboard, Shirley!
Read more about Shirley Robles here.
Safe Water Resources
Thank you to our Generous Donors!
Huge thank you to our sustaining monthly donors, whose continual contributions help to sustain our long-term work toward achieving safe, clean, and affordable drinking water!
Arden Wells, Benigna Hernandez, Bessma Mourad, Bob Simone, Brad Coffey, Carly Yoshida, Cassie Morgan, Denise Heitzenroder, Frank Lukacs, Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, Julia Emerson, Kathryn Gilje, Kathryn Wuelfing, Kelsey Hinton, Klara East, Kristin Dobbin, Lara Cushing, Leonard Sklar, Max Meyer, Paul Pierce, Sandra Hocker, Sandra Rose, Stephen Gasteyer, Vicki Woods, Victoria Klug and Yara Pasner
And thank you to our generous donors so far for the month of December!
Amy Panek, David Weinsoff, Ellen Hanak Valletta, Hensley Peterson, Iris Biblowitz, Karen Socher, Kathryn Gilje, Kevin Klug, Lisa Honig, Martine Gordon
Be a water champion and support safe water for all.
