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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 June 6, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Rights to California’s most important resource are built on injustice. New legislation seeks to change that

Who gets California’s water, and how much, is a high-stakes affair, and it’s based on a system of water rights born long ago, when the West was wild — and often unfair. The first-come, first-served pecking order established during European settlement gave the new and dominant landowners first dibs on pumping rivers and creeks. The beneficiaries, which include the likes of San Francisco and its pristine supplies in Yosemite, continue to enjoy tremendous advantage, consuming water with little constraint while others sometimes go without. Amid growing water shortages and focus on equity, the system has begun drawing increased scrutiny. Last week the state Legislature weighed in with the unusual step of advancing measures that would help regulators rein in the most privileged and profligate water users.

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Aquafornia news June 5, 2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Months later, California farmworkers get $95 million in flood aid

On the night of Jan. 9, amid pelting rain, a levee along Miles Creek in Merced County failed, flooding half the small town of Planada, devastating the tightknit community that is home to many undocumented farmworkers. Thousands of people were displaced … few had flood insurance. … State money is welcome and necessary, he said, noting that on top of the damage to their homes, many farmworkers suffered loss of wages, as fields were flooded and agriculture disrupted by winter storms. Months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state Department of Social Services would mobilize its Rapid Response Fund to support “undocumented workers and communities ineligible for FEMA individual assistance due to immigration status.” Now, help appears to be on the way.

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2023 Somach Simmons & Dunn

Blog: State Water Resources Control Board considering amendments to the Bay-Delta Plan to incorporate tribal beneficial uses

The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan) is currently undergoing its periodic review of updates and amendments by the State Water Resources Control Board. Tribal representatives have requested the incorporation of recognized Tribal Beneficial Use (TBU) definitions to the Bay-Delta Plan. If these definitions are incorporated in the Bay-Delta Plan, the State Water Board must also amend or establish water quality objectives and implementation programs to achieve and maintain water quality sufficient for these designated beneficial uses. … The State Water Board is holding an informational meeting on June 7, 2023, to discuss the potential addition of TBUs to the Bay-Delta Plan.

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2023 Engineering News-Record

More states pile on with ‘forever chemical’ lawsuits

Washington and Maryland are the latest states seeking to hold chemical manufacturers liable for soil and groundwater contamination caused by so-called “forever chemicals.” The suits, filed in the states’ respective court systems, accuse 3M, DuPont and other makers of concealing longstanding information about the dangers associated with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of more than 9,000 laboratory-produced chemicals used for a wide range of industrial, commercial and consumer product applications for more than 80 years. 

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2023 The Center Square

Amid debt ceiling vote, California senator pushing for increased water funding

As the United States Senate will soon vote to suspend the debt ceiling, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, D-California, is pushing for the federal government to spend more on water. Padilla serves as Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife.  He hosted a hearing this week entitled “Water Affordability and Small Water Systems Assistance” which looked at, “rising water rates, aging infrastructure, and extreme weather events are increasing water affordability challenges for communities across the country,” according to a press release from his office. During the meeting, advocates pushed for a permanent national water assistance program; they argued that such a program would particularly benefit rural areas.

Related article:

  • Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom: News release - What they’re saying: Governor Newsom’s proposals to build more, faster
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Aquafornia news June 1, 2023 KCRA - Sacramento

Sen. Alex Padilla focuses on water affordability in hearing

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., convened his first hearing as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, on Wednesday. Sen. Padilla appeared on the KCRA News morning show on My58 and said the hearing will focus on how rising water rates, aging infrastructure and extreme weather events have affected access and affordability of clean water across the country. … According to a state audit in 2022, California required an estimated $64.7 billion to upgrade its water infrastructure. In April, the EPA awarded a fraction of that, $391 million. To hear more about the subcommittee’s initiatives, watch the attached video.

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Aquafornia news June 1, 2023 CalMatters

California to send $95 million to undocumented flooding victims – months after promising ‘rapid response’

California will send $95 million to flood victims in a long-awaited program to assist undocumented residents suffering hardship and damage from the recent months of storms. The money will be available in many affected counties starting in June, according to the state’s Department of Social Services.  The announcement comes two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom promised flood victims that help would come from the state’s Rapid Response Fund. Since then his office provided few details despite repeated queries and criticism.  Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Newsom, said state officials were trying to ensure the program would be accessible to a population that is often hard to reach, while also protecting taxpayer funds from fraud.

Related articles:

  • KRCR – Redding: Anderson residents continue to ask for help as A.C.I.D canal floods local neighborhoods
  • Army Corps of Engineers: Public meetings scheduled for Lower San Joaquin River Project
  • Engineering News-Record: California Water Agencies Outline $3.2B Plan for Central Valley Flood Prevention Projects
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Aquafornia news June 1, 2023 SJV Water

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Slew of water bills swirl around Sacramento

Senior water rights holders have arguably the sweetest deal in California water. They often have ironclad deals and some even get access to substantial water during the worst of drought.  But three new bills in the state legislature are taking aim at senior water rights in an attempt to level the playing field. The bills propose expanding the authority of the state Water Resources Control Board. Senior water rights date back to before 1914, when there was no permitting or state water authority yet. For years, advocacy groups have decried the water rights system and demanded changes. Some of those changes could become reality if legislators and the governor approve the current bills. 

Related article: 

  • Office of Rebecca Bauer-Kahan: Bauer-Kahan’s Bill To Protect Water Supply Passes Assembly 
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Aquafornia news May 31, 2023 High Country News

Can retiring farmland make California’s Central Valley more equitable?

The people of Fairmead, California, in the Central Valley, have struggled to gain reliable access to drinking water for years. The unincorporated community of around 1,300 — “mostly people of color, people of low income, people struggling and trying to make it,” according to Fairmead resident Barbara Nelson — relies on shallow wells to meet its needs. But in recent years, the combination of drought and excessive agricultural pumping has caused some domestic wells to go dry, and one of the town wells is currently very low. Last year, Fairmead received a grant to help plan for farmland retirement in order to recharge groundwater under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA. 

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Aquafornia news May 30, 2023 CalMatters

California state prison closure threatens desert town

Two things bring people here, prisons and water, and this tiny desert town is losing both.  The locals interested in keeping Blythe afloat have ideas: They’ll build a logistics center, or they’ll develop better recreation opportunities on the Colorado River, or they’ll reopen their soon-to-be shuttered state prison as an immigration detention center. …Then there’s Blythe’s water, which feeds fields of alfalfa taken out of town by the truckload as bales of hay, and is increasingly going to large farm conglomerates. The Metropolitan Water District, which sends water to Los Angeles and other Southern California cities, pays Blythe farmers to leave their fields fallow as competition for Colorado River water gets increasingly desperate. So if there’s no prison and very little water, what becomes of this place?

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Aquafornia news May 30, 2023 CalMatters

State asked to stop diverting iconic Mono Lake’s water to Los Angeles

As trickling snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada slowly raises Mono Lake —  famed for its bird life and outlandish shoreline mineral spires — advocates are pressuring state water officials to halt diversions from the lake’s tributaries to Los Angeles, which has used this clean mountain water source for decades.  Environmentalists and tribal representatives say such action is years overdue and would help the iconic lake’s ecosystem, long plagued by low levels, high salinity and dust that wafts off the exposed lakebed. The city of Los Angeles, they argue, should simply use less water, and expand investments in more sustainable sources – especially recycled wastewater and uncaptured stormwater. This, they say, could help wean the city off Mono basin’s water for good.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: One of the last glaciers near Yosemite was about to disappear. Then came the snowy winter
  • ABC – Sacramento: Unlikely Northern California will ever see this type of snowfall again, research shows  
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Aquafornia news May 30, 2023 NPR

Advocates: Reparations are the answer for sea level threat in West Oakland, Calif.

Toxic waste lurking in the soil under the San Francisco Bay community of West Oakland, and places like it, is the next environmental threat in a neighborhood already burdened by pollution. Residents in these communities of color are calling for climate justice as a form of reparations. The stability of buried contamination from Oakland’s industrial past relies on it staying in the soil. But once the rising waters of San Francisco Bay press inland and get underneath these pockets of pollution, a certain amount of that waste will not stay in place. Instead, it will begin to move. More than 130 sites lie in wait. Human-caused climate change is already forcing this groundwater rise in West Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area.

Related articles: 

  • Mercury News: California’s coast could shrink by 70% in next century, study says
  • SLO Tribune: Threats from climate change leave SLO County facing an ‘uncertain future.’ Here’s how
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Aquafornia news May 26, 2023 KPBS Public Media

High lead levels in drinking water found in 139 San Diego child care centers

In San Diego County, 139 child care centers have reported lead levels in drinking water above state safety standards, according to state data. Centers built before 2010 are required to test all faucets and drinking fountains, per Assembly Bill 2370. If levels are above five parts lead per billion particles, they have to be fixed. It’s part of the licensing requirements for child care centers.

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Aquafornia news May 26, 2023 CalMatters

California becomes the first state to phase out toxic hexavalent chromium

[H]exavalent chromium—a highly hazardous substance emitted by chrome-plating businesses—is 500 times more carcinogenic than diesel exhaust, putting it in the cross hair of regulators for decades. The California Air Resources Board today approved a landmark ban on use of the substance by the chrome plating industry. The ban requires companies, who opposed the action, to use alternative materials. … The toxin has some presence in popular culture. The court battle over the presence of the chemical in drinking water in the San Bernardino County town of Hinkley was dramatized in the movie “Erin Brockovich.” But environmental advocates and residents of Los Angeles’ low-income, industrial neighborhoods and cities have long raised concerns.

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Aquafornia news May 26, 2023 ABC7 - Los Angeles

Coalinga water: California city hit hard by drought crisis remains concerned over water supply despite wet winter

Despite California’s historic wet weather this year that brought relief to drought-stricken regions, one small city in the San Joaquin Valley continues to suffer. No place has suffered more from the state’s recent stretch of dry weather than Coalinga in Fresno County. … And pay they did - almost 10 times what the city would normally pay for its water. Coalinga gets its water from the San Luis Reservoir. At the drought’s height, the city’s allotment was cut by 80%.

Related articles: 

  • Ventura County Star: Ventura program to boost water supply, protect city from drought
  • Union Democrat: TUD continues to pursue contract for New Melones water
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Aquafornia news May 25, 2023 Capital Public Radio

Toxic lead levels at CA child care facilities

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than 9 million lead pipes (which is a significant source of lead contamination) in drinking water across the United States.  It’s a problem that gained a national spotlight after the Flint, Michigan water crisis which began in 2014. Shortly after, California became the first state in the country to make a commitment to remove all of its lead service lines. But the lead pipe problem still persists. That problem is highlighted in a new report mandated by state law and focuses on potential lead contamination in the drinking water of state-licensed childcare facilities. The report revealed that drinking water at almost 1,700 childcare facilities across California (roughly 1 in 4) exceeded the amount of lead the state allows in drinking water.

Related articles: 

  • Santa Cruz Good Times: The struggle for safe water continues for Boulder Creek residents
  • Northern California Water Association: Be Well Prepared to Ensure Safe and Reliable Drinking Water
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Aquafornia news May 18, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Lead found in water at 1 in 4 California child care centers

In test results that suggest thousands of California infants, toddlers and children continue to be exposed to brain-damaging lead, data released by the state Department of Social Services has revealed that 1 in 4 of the state’s child-care centers has dangerously high levels of the metal in their drinking water. Lead, a potent neurotoxin that poses a particularly grave threat to children, was discovered in the water systems of nearly 1,700 child-care centers licensed by the state. The highest results came from a facility in San Diego that recorded 11,300 parts per billion at the time of testing — well above the state’s limit of 5 ppb in child-care centers. One ppb is the equivalent of one drop of contaminant in 500 barrels of water.

Related article: 

  • San Francisco Examiner: PFAS found in East Bay drinking water sources, watchdog says
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Aquafornia news May 17, 2023 Stanford

Blog: The human right to water

If safe water is a human right, why does it remain out of reach for so many? A Stanford-led project, supported by the Sustainability Accelerator of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, is focused on the broad goal of achieving the human right to water (HR2W) in California. Cindy Weng, a PhD candidate in environmental engineering, is leading the project’s data analytics for assessing equity in urban water access during droughts. Recently, she discussed the project, water equity issues, and potential solutions for California and the rest of the country.

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2023 The Sacramento Bee

Unsafe levels of lead in water CA child care centers have

About 1,700 licensed child care centers in California — a quarter of the nearly 7,000 tested so far — have been serving drinking water with lead levels exceeding allowable limits, according to data that the nonprofit Environmental Working Group secured from the state. Susan Little, a senior advocate for the environmental group, said it’s “really alarming” that California infants and preschool-age children are being exposed to this risk in places where their parents think they are safe. Lead, of course, has been proven to permanently damage children’s brains and other parts of their nervous system.

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2023 Public Policy Institute of California

Blog: The EPA’s Martha Guzman discusses new environmental justice initiatives

Martha Guzman is the regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 9 office in San Francisco. She’s leading EPA efforts to protect public health and the environment for a region that includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the US Pacific Islands territories, and 148 tribal nations. We spoke with Ms. Guzman to learn more about the EPA’s latest environmental justice initiatives—and found her to be a fountain of both information and enthusiasm. The EPA recently announced an initiative to support environmental justice investments, using funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Can you tell us about the new environmental justice grants?

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