Violating California residents’ right to water
… In December, the Biden administration awarded a $20 million Community Change grant designed to help disadvantaged communities address environmental and climate justice challenges to the nonprofit Community Water Center, founded 20 years ago to help underserved rural communities without access to clean drinking water. … But the project barely had a chance to get off the ground. On May 1, the same day Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin claimed the Trump administration was “ensuring America has the cleanest air, land and water on the planet,” the EPA canceled the Community Water Center’s grant. Now, community organizations are scrambling to find ways to fill the gap. The State Water Resources Control Board really came through for the first phase of the project. …. State funding will allow about 400 residents to get safe drinking water by upgrading the Springfield Water System, which has struggled with unsafe levels of nitrates and the cancer-causing chemical 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or 1,2,3-TCP, a contaminant in pesticides.