The coronavirus sparked a lot of water-related questions and
issues when the pandemic moved into California in 2020.
Below are the latest articles on the topic as they appeared in
our Aquafornia news aggregate.
The Water Education Foundation’s just-released 2020 Annual
Report recaps how, even in the midst of a global pandemic,
we continued educating about the most crucial natural resource
in California and the West – water. The annual
report takes readers along to see the array of educational
events, trainings and articles we produced last year, including
engaging virtual water tours that educated participants on
pressing water issues and allowed them to interact with each
other and a wide range of experts offering different
viewpoints.
Right now, Congress is debating needed investments in our water
system decades in the making. While the Senate’s compromise
bill passed earlier this month includes billions for lead pipe
replacement and helping communities prepare for future drought
and floods, the bill falls short of ensuring all families can
turn their tap on and access safe, affordable water.
… Some utilities are stepping up to help (both San
Francisco Public Utilities and East Bay Municipal
Utilities District have customer assistance programs)
… -Written by Michael McAfee, president and CEO of
PolicyLink, a national research and action institute focused on
advancing racial and economic equity, and Susana De
Anda, co-founder and executive director of the Community
Water Center, a nonprofit environmental justice organization
based in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
The Water Education Foundation was hoping to host a few
in-person events this fall (and you told us in a survey that
you wanted us to) but with the rise in the Delta variant of
COVID-19 cases, we have decided to present our Water
Summit and Headwaters Tour in a virtual format. However, while
our annual Water Summit will be virtual on Oct. 28, we are
hoping to include an optional outdoor reception aboard a
boat for a Sacramento River cruise. Stay tuned for
details!
The heightened need for handwashing during the pandemic posed a
challenge for the many homes without water. For many years, the
rugged topography and remoteness of the Navajo Nation made
piping water to homes challenging. Since 2003, IHS and a
network of partners have reduced the number of Navajo homes
without water access from 30 percent to 20 percent. New funding
from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Act provided the Navajo Area IHS with $5.2 million, targeted
specifically to increasing water access on the Navajo Nation.
The California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program
(Program), passed as part of Assembly Bill 148, is being
developed and implemented by the State Water Resources Control
Board (State Board). This Program will provide funding for
“community water systems” that have experienced revenue
shortfalls and arrearages on water and wastewater bills during
the COVID-19 pandemic. The Program will prioritize issuing
funding to community water systems first, and will extend
funding to wastewater providers if the Program still has
funding available after providing relief to community water
systems.
In the valleys of central California, the search for water has
turned into an all-out obsession as the region suffers
through a drought that could threaten the US’s food
supply. Residents have watched with dismay as verdant
fields turned into brown, dusty plains, leaving shrivelled
trees, dying plants and frustrated farmers. Much of
California, and of the broader US West, has suffered through
years of lighter-than-usual precipitation and a particularly
dry winter.
