October eNews: Water Affordability for All!
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Clean drinking water means nothing for those who cannot afford it. This year, CWC has successfully advocated for almost $1 billion for relief for those behind on their water bills. This relief will help thousands of families throughout California. Looking forward, we must ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water by creating a rate assistance program. No one should have to choose between safe water and paying their rent, putting food on the table and other necessities.
In California, CWC is sponsoring SB 222 to create a permanent Low-Income Rate Assistance Program (LIRA) in California. And at the federal level, CWC, along with numerous other partners, are pushing for a LIRA to be included in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. Watch the video below to learn more about the efforts in Congress:
Adelante,
Susana De Anda
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Community Water Leaders Network in Action in Lamont
Last September during the pandemic, Lamont Public Utility District faced a crisis that threatened to expose its customers to cancer-causing 123-TCP and arsenic in their drinking water. One of Lamont’s wells, critical to filtering out contaminants, was eroding and irreparable. Thankfully, Lamont PUD Board Member Tim Prado, who is also a member of CWC’s Community Water Leaders Network, was quick to reach out to CWC for support to address the issue.
With support from CWC staff, Tim reached out to state officials, who helped get the State Water Board to fund the repairs. Just a few months later, the Board agreed to provide Lamont PUD with an $18 million grant to replace the damaged well and other wells to prevent future problems. As of August 2021, construction has already started on improving drinking water resiliency for Lamont!
Community Water Leaders Network is a group of local elected officials and water decision-makers with the unified mission of increasing access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water in California. CWC aims to support leaders like Tim to highlight key drinking water issues facing their communities and advocate for resources and policy solutions.
Legislative Recap: The Water Wrap
2021 was a successful year in advancing the Human Right to Water in the Legislature! Despite the challenges of the pandemic and worsening drought across our communities, CWC, community members, and partner organizations made significant progress to advance water justice by passing new laws and securing billions of dollars of funding for water in the budget.
Here’s the breakdown:
An additional $1.3 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure in the state budget.
$1 billion to address water utility debt and unpaid water bills during the COVID pandemic in the state budget.
Extension of the moratorium on water shutoffs through the end of 2021 to allow time for funding to reach households who need it.
Passage of SB 552, The Drought Resilient Communities Act, by Senator Bob Hertzberg, which will help ensure small and rural communities are better prepared for drought through better local planning, data collection, emergency responses, and statewide coordination.
Passage of SB 403, by Senator Lena Gonzalez, which expands the State Water Board’s authority to consolidate at-risk domestic wells and water systems before they fail to deliver safe drinking water. Previously, the State Water Board had to wait for systems to fail before they could begin implementing solutions.
Both of these bills were signed into law by Governor Newsom.
Thank you to all our supporters, community members, and partner organizations for helping CWC deliver a great year at the Capitol!
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, 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, Stephen Gasteyer, Vicki Woods, and Victoria Klug
And thank you to our generous donors for September!
Catherine Courtney, John and Karen Yohannes
Be a water champion and support safe water for all.
