August eNews: Community Voices on the Value of Safe Water during the Pandemic
Between COVID-19, California fires, smoky air, protests, and kids going back to school, I know it’s been a stressful time for all of us. I hope that you and your families are safe and well.
We’ve taken time this month to work on our strategic planning, along with our community partners, for how we’re moving forward to ensure safe, clean, and affordable water, both for our immediate needs and in the long-term.
You can read comments from our community partners below on one such program that is providing relief to residents right now.
Also, we’ve been building a new website and I can’t wait to share it with you! We’re putting on some finishing touches now, but watch out for an email in the next few days, or follow us on social media, so you can check it out. We would love to get your thoughts.
Take care and stay safe.
Adelante,
Susana De Anda
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Community Voices: Regional Bottled Water Program for Central Coast Households
Bottled water delivery photo courtesy of community partner Raul Alcantar, Royal Oaks, Northern Monterey County
Community Water Center works alongside community partners on short- and long-term drinking water solutions. One such program is the Regional Bottled Water Program for Central Coast Households, which provides an immediate source of safe drinking water for low-income households that rely on contaminated drinking water wells.
This program is funded by the State Water Board from The Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) program, which was created after the passage of SB 200 last year - a major campaign by CWC, our allies, and community partners. We are very happy to see funding starting to reach the most impacted communities.
Here are some comments from community partners who signed up for the program:
“This free purified water delivery program has primarily helped our family take care of our health. Since the water from the well where we live is contaminated and cannot be consumed, we only use it for personal hygiene and to wash the dishes. The water they provide us is for drinking, cooking, washing fruits and vegetables, and for oral hygiene, and of course it helps us financially in these times, especially because of the pandemic.”
— Raul Alcantar, Royal Oaks, northern Monterey County
“My experience receiving free bottled water has been a very good thing. It has helped us a lot, since in our community the water is highly contaminated with nitrates and we are too far removed from the city to buy clean water to drink and to cook.”
— Enrique Serrano, Royal Oaks, northern Monterey County
While this is only a temporary solution for clean drinking water, CWC is partnering with community leaders, including the AGUA Coalition and El Comité Para Para Tener Agua Sana, Limpia, y Económica (or The Committee for Safe, Clean, and Affordable Drinking Water) on long-term infrastructure projects for their communities as well.
CWC in the News!
Old racist policies keep hurting these Fresno-area families. Will this make things safer?
AGUA Coalition Members Take On Clean Energy for their Community
“Everybody is looking out to save money. We want to be able to afford other stuff that we need for our children instead of paying to the Edison Company or spending it on propane.”
— Lucy Hernandez, member of AGUA Coalition, SAFER Advisory Group, and Community Water Leaders Network (CWLN)
“You hear about Silicon Valley, and you hear about all these great things that are happening, and it’s pretty to look at. I know it’s not pretty to look at here, but there are beautiful people here.”
— Melynda Metheney, AGUA Coalition member
The plan contains a bright spot: “We were excited to see that the very first recommendation in this pretty big document was on safe drinking water,” said Jonathan Nelson, CWC Policy Director.
Even though safe drinking water is a priority, Nelson says the impact of the pandemic on the funding source — cap and trade dollars, the state's system where pollution credits are bought and sold — is causing concern for securing water to Californians with dirty and unhealthy water.
“We need to figure out some sort of backup funding to address that gap and ideally we need to be putting that backup or that plan into place now before we realize … we’re running out of money and then try to figure it out,” he said.
California's cap-and-trade program pays for clean water fund
“Our groundwater in the Central Valley in California has been highly polluted … and it’s running through old and dilapidated infrastructure getting to people’s taps.”
— Susana De Anda, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Community Water Center
Clean water advocates hoping to safeguard SAFER funding
“Of course, no one could have foreseen a pandemic. But this is a reminder of how critical it is to have a sustainable funding source.”
— Jonathan Nelson, Policy Director, Community Water Center
See more CWC news coverage 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, Arden Wells, Arohi Sharma, Benigna Hernandez, Bessma Mourad, Bryan Barnhart, Carly Yoshida, Cassie Morgan, Edward Bergtholdt, Esperanza Pimentel, Jill Ratner, Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, Kavita Vora, Kelsey Hinton, Kristin Dobbin, Leonard Sklar, Paul Pierce, Sandra Hocker, Sandra Rose, Vicente Guerrero, Vicki Woods, Victoria Klug
And thank you to our generous donors for August!
Charles Wechsler, Howard Watkins, Jeannie Sa
If you would like to donate to CWC, please click here!
If you would like to become a monthly donor, please click here!
