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Topic: Water Equity

Overview June 14, 2020

Water Equity

More than 1 million Californians are affected by unsafe or unreliable sources of water for cooking, drinking and bathing. They can lose access to water supplies when their wells run dry, especially during drought when groundwater is relied on more heavily and the water table drops. Employment disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can impair their ability to pay water bills on time. Communities of color are most often burdened by these challenges.

Below you’ll find the latest news articles raising awareness on efforts to seek water equity written by the staff at the Water Education Foundation and other organizations that were posted in our Aquafornia news aggregate.

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Aquafornia news January 30, 2023 Valley Voice

Porterville City Council supports the county of Tulare and Self-Help Enterprises to use city water for emergency response

At its meeting on January 17, 2023, the Porterville City Council unanimously approved to support the County of Tulare’s request to provisionally use City water to serve homes across Tulare County on temporary household tanks. Due to a road closure caused by flooding on Avenue 368 in Visalia, contract water haulers for Self-Help Enterprises were unable to access the Bob Wiley Detention Facility well, which provides source water for 389 homes each week. With no other available water resources and the inability to access the well, the City Council agreed to the support the access to its water on an emergency provisional basis until the road is repaired and the well can again be accessed. 

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2023 Food and Environment Reporting Network

Extreme weather creates a food crisis for California farmworkers

On a brisk afternoon in mid-January, Eloy Ortiz is pacing the back alley behind a white house in Watsonville, California, in the heart of California’s strawberry industry. The house is under an evacuation warning after weeks of torrential rain, but that hasn’t stopped hundreds of women and children from crowding around the back gate. … Ortiz is a board member and volunteer with the Center for Farmworker Families, a nonprofit that assists farmworker communities throughout Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties on California’s Central Coast. The group has been distributing food for over a decade, but this is a big crowd, even by their standards. Many of the women in line pick strawberries for a living, and the crop has taken a beating from California’s winter storms. Farmers face up to $200 million in damages, according to the California Strawberry Commission.

Related articles: 

  • Ag Alert: Salinas commentary - A cautious smile after our Salad Bowl ‘storm watch’
  • ABC 30 – Fresno: Farmers’ crops and cattle impacted by wet weather and heavy rain
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Aquafornia news January 27, 2023 The Guardian

Their Arizona community was ideal. Then their neighbor cut off the water

In the warmth of Arizona’s winter sun, 50 residents gathered in front of neighborhood activist Cody Reim’s house last weekend, eager to discuss a solution to their problem. Despite living a few miles from a river, their community has no water supply services. … In Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated community with no municipal government, near Scottsdale, the fashionable, wealthy desert city adjoining the state capital of Phoenix, none of the homes are connected to a local water district. There is only one paved road, no street lights, storm gutters, or pipes in the ground. Instead residents have wells – or water tanks outside their homes, which they used to fill at a local pipe serviced by Scottsdale.

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2023 The Sun-Gazette Newspaper

Exeter takes last step to start Tooleville water connection

The saga over connecting Exeter and Tooleville’s water systems entered its most important phase to date on Jan. 24., in which an agreement will now be sent to the state for review. City manager Adam Ennis said that the approval of the consolidation agreement between Exeter and Tooleville will be one of the last steps before they can execute the project. The agreement outlines the responsibilities of Tooleville Mutual Non-Profit Water Association (TMNPWA) and Exeter for making the water connection a reality. Exeter is now awaiting approval of this agreement from the State Water Board, and if it is approved, they will finally be allowed to break ground on the project. This was a long time coming, as the city has spent years working on a solution to Tooleville’s water woes. 

Related article: 

  • Porterville Recorder: Porterville provides water to county residents on provisional basis
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Aquafornia news January 26, 2023 KSL

Judge to Arizona community: Water not required to flow from Scottsdale

A Maricopa County judge in Arizona denied residents emergency relief over their Scottsdale water source that has been cut off since Jan. 1 because of drought conditions and despite repeated city warnings to find an alternative water source. The action for an emergency stay was brought by some residents of the nearby unincorporated community of Rio Verde Foothills who saw their deliveries of water run dry at the beginning of the year due to action by the city of Scottsdale, whose leaders said they repeatedly warned the community that continued deliveries were unsustainable due to drought.

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Aquafornia news January 26, 2023 Border Report

Tijuana running out of water, turns to California for help

As of Friday morning, more than 600 colonias were without running water in Tijuana and Rosarito, where residents say service has been spotty since last year. Facing the possibility of running out of water, Tijuana’s State Commission for Public Services, CESPT, turned to the San Diego County Water Authority for help. Agreements in place between Mexico and the United States allow for water deliveries in times of emergency or severe drought. So last week, the San Diego-based agency began sending water to Tijuana. Compounding the problem is the deterioration of Tijuana’s main aqueduct that delivers water from the Colorado River, the city’s main source of water. So far, repairs are taking longer than expected.

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Aquafornia news January 25, 2023 CalMatters

California dumps toxic waste in states with weaker laws

In September 2020, workers in Brawley near the Mexico border began loading dump trucks with soil from the site of an old pesticide company. As an excavator carefully placed the Imperial County waste into the vehicles, a worker sprayed the pile with a hose, state records show. … Shipping documents indicate the soil was contaminated with DDT, an insecticide the federal Environmental Protection Agency banned decades ago and that research has linked to premature births, cancer and environmental harms. The Brawley dirt was so toxic to California, state regulation labeled it a hazardous waste. That meant it would need to go to a disposal facility specially designed to handle dangerous material – a site with more precautions than a regular landfill to make sure the contaminants couldn’t leach into groundwater or pollute the air. At least, that would have been the requirement if the waste stayed in California. But it didn’t.

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Aquafornia news January 23, 2023 Stocktonia

Rep. Harder calls Delta tunnel project ‘Boondoggle’ during townhall meeting

U.S. Rep. Josh Harder didn’t have to convince an overflowing crowd in French Camp this week that the Delta Tunnel is a bad idea. Instead, the town hall served as a sort of call to arms for those who do not want to support what many called a “water grab” by Southern California in the longtime-going war of words and policies in the fight for ownership of the state’s water resources. A crowd of more than 150 Wednesday night gathered in the community room at Health Plan of San Joaquin on Manthey Road to listen to harder speak about one of the state’s most studied, talked about and debated issues — water. The hour-long meeting saw discussions on flooding, water storage and, of course, the divisive Delta Tunnel, a $16 billion project from that would divert water from the Delta down to our SoCal neighbors that is supported by both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Department of Water Resources.

Related article: 

  • Manteca Bulletin: Instead of fighting the woke war, SJ Valley congressmen need to fight the water war
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Aquafornia news January 23, 2023 CA Department of Water Resources

News release: DWR launches interagency task force as part of advance planning for drought conditions

While California’s drought outlook is improving, the State is continuing to proactively prepare for a return to dry conditions amid climate-driven extremes in weather. Today, Department of Water Resources (DWR) is officially launching a standing Drought Resilience Interagency and Partners (DRIP) Collaborative, which will include members of the public. Community members and water users are encouraged to apply. Initiated by Senate Bill 552, the DRIP Collaborative will foster partnerships between local governments, experts, community representatives and state agencies to address drought planning, emergency response, and ongoing management. Members will help ensure support for community needs and anticipate and mitigate drought impacts, especially for small water supplier and rural communities who are often more vulnerable to droughts.

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Aquafornia news January 23, 2023 Stanford News

News release: Droughts increase costs for low-income households

Access to safe, affordable water is a necessity for human health and well-being. But when droughts strike areas that are already water-stressed, water providers are forced to enact measures to curtail water usage or invest in supplies from more expensive sources, which can increase costs for consumers. According to a recent study from the Fletcher Lab at Stanford University, published in Nature Water, these measures can disproportionately affect water bills for low-income households, making water more costly for the most vulnerable people.

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Aquafornia news January 20, 2023 Associated Press

Warming to make California downpours even wetter, study says

As damaging as it was for more than 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow to fall on California since Christmas, a worst-case global warming scenario could juice up similar future downpours by one-third by the middle of this century, a new study says. The strongest of California’s storms from “atmospheric rivers,” long and wide plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and flow through the sky over land, would probably get an overall 34% increase in total precipitation, or another 11 trillion gallons more than just fell. 

Related article:

  • Grist: The next big California storm could destroy Stockton 
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Aquafornia news January 19, 2023 CBS News

Eating one fish from U.S. lakes or rivers likened to drinking month’s worth of contaminated water

Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month’s worth of water contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals,” new research said on Tuesday. The invisible chemicals, called PFAS, were first developed in the 1940s to resist water and heat and are now used in items such as non-stick pans, textiles, fire suppression foams and food packaging. But the indestructibility of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, means the pollutants have built up over time in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water and even our bodies. There have been growing calls for stricter regulation for PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues including liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses and several kinds of cancer.

Related article: 

  • Civil Eats: The field report - New research shows dangerous levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in freshwater fish
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Aquafornia news January 13, 2023 BBC News

California’s homeless battle floods and storms

Up and down the coast, they have endured torrential rain, flood waters, mudslides, lighting strikes, and downed trees, often with little more than tents or bridges for shelter. “The water backed up to my tent, it’s still going,” said Maurice, who lives in San Francisco and who declined to provide his last name. “Ninety percent of my stuff is still wet. I’m trying to salvage the stuff I do need to keep on going.” … The storm has placed a spotlight on the Golden State’s staggering inequality, and its decades-long failure to adequately shelter and support its homeless residents.

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Aquafornia news January 10, 2023 CalMatters

California homeless at risk in storms

Rebekah Rohde, 40, and Steven Sorensen, 61, are two of at least 14 people killed by the recent storms — and both were unhoused. The Sacramento County Coroner reported Monday that both were found with trees collapsed onto their tents. It’s a tragic — and telling — convergence of two California crises: extreme weather and worsening homelessness. The current series of storms (“parade of cyclones” is the latest National Weather Service warning) pummeled communities with as much as 8 inches of rain and wind gusts of nearly 70 mph, causing power outages, school shutdowns and flood risks, especially in coastal regions and areas burned by wildfires. They include the coastal enclave of Montecito in Santa Barbara County, where evacuations were ordered on Monday, five years to the day that mudslides killed 23 people and destroyed 130 homes.   

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Aquafornia news January 6, 2023 The Associated Press

Biden signs water bills benefiting 3 tribes in Arizona

President Joe Biden has approved three bills that will improve access to water for three tribes in Arizona amid an unrelenting drought. One of the measures that Biden signed Thursday settles longstanding water rights claims for the Hualapai Tribe, whose reservation borders a 100-mile (161-kilometer) stretch of the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon. Hualapai will have the right to divert up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year, along with the ability to lease it within Arizona.

Related articles:

  • Parker Live: President Biden signs CRIT water bill into law 
  • Payson Roundup: Tribal water settlements slipped into must-pass budget bill​
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Aquafornia news January 4, 2023 Arizona Republic

Arizona prepares to test hundreds of drinking water systems for toxic ‘forever chemicals’

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has initiated a statewide effort to sample over 1,200 public water systems across the state for 29 different kinds of a hazardous chemical known as PFAS.  The goal is to produce a detailed map showing the presence of PFAS in drinking water supplies, the first step toward cleaning up contaminated water sources. PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of manufactured chemicals that have been used since the late 1940s in a wide variety of products and industries, and can now be found globally in water and soil. A growing body of evidence has shown that long-term exposure, even to low traces of these chemicals, can cause severe health issues.

Related article: 

  • Law 360: EPA’s 2023 Plans For PFAS: High Costs, Uncertain Rewards
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Aquafornia news January 4, 2023 The Hill

Opinion: In praise of the monthly water bill

The cost of delivering safe, clean tap water to every household and business in a community is massive. In fact, it may be among the most expensive of all human undertakings. That is why only the wealthiest countries have achieved it at high rates and why 2 billion people on our planet still lack it.  Paying the monthly bill that comes with good tap water service is unpleasant, but it beats the alternatives. While it would be nice if some benevolent entity would bear the cost of delivering safe, clean tap water, the reality is that communities that rely on someone else to pay for their water systems often have inadequate or failing service.
-Written by Kathryn Sorensen, former director of Phoenix Water Services and current director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University; Bidtah Becker, director of the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources; and Manny Teodoro, associate professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.​

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Western Water December 9, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept By Nick Cahill

As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept
Chorus of experts warn climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward

Photo shows Hoover Dam’s intake towers protruding from the surface of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, where water levels have dropped to record lows amid a 22-year drought. When the Colorado River Compact was signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table.

A century later, it’s clear the water they bet on is not there. More than two decades of drought, lake evaporation and overuse of water have nearly drained the river’s two anchor reservoirs, Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border and Lake Mead near Las Vegas. Climate change is rendering the basin drier, shrinking spring runoff that’s vital for river flows, farms, tribes and cities across the basin – and essential for refilling reservoirs.

The states that endorsed the Colorado River Compact in 1922 – and the tribes and nation of Mexico that were excluded from the table – are now straining to find, and perhaps more importantly accept, solutions on a river that may offer just half of the water that the Compact assumed would be available. And not only are solutions not coming easily, the relationships essential for compromise are getting more frayed.

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Western Water August 12, 2022 Nick Cahill California Groundwater Map WESTERN WATER-Could Virtual Networks Solve Drinking Water Woes for California’s Isolated, Disadvantaged Communities? By Nick Cahill

Could Virtual Networks Solve Drinking Water Woes for California’s Isolated, Disadvantaged Communities?
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: UCLA pilot project uses high-tech gear in LA to remotely run clean-water systems for small communities in Central California's Salinas Valley

UCLA’s remote water treatment systems are providing safe tap water to three disadvantaged communities in the Salinas Valley. A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.

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Western Water March 25, 2022 Douglas E. Beeman California Water Bundle WESTERN WATER-New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding By Douglas E. Beeman

New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Martha Guzman says surge of federal dollars offers 'greatest opportunity' to address longstanding water needs, including for tribes & disadvantaged communities in EPA Region 9

EPA Region 9 Administrator Martha Guzman.Martha Guzman recalls those awful days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible time.”

She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely greatest opportunity.”

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