Commentary: Californians have a right to safe water, yet many don’t have it. Is help on the way?
Twelve years after California became the first state in the nation to declare a “human right to water,” achieving this basic societal goal of securing clean water for all 39 million state residents is more daunting than ever. This is a moral imperative for one of the largest economies in the world. There is no good reason for clean, safe water to be elusive to an estimated 1.2 million Californians who get their water from failing water systems beset with financial problems and safety concerns. But there is an undeniable reason: The state’s water system was in far worse shape than previously thought. California needs to drill more than 55,000 new wells and fix nearly 400 failing public water systems.
-Written by Tom Philp, Sacramento Bee columnist.Related water pollution articles:
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