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Dear friend,
One of the most valuable ways you can support CWC is by becoming a sustaining donor. This means a recurring monthly contribution of $10, $25 or $100 is set up once and provides CWC consistent, predictable income throughout the year. Our goal is to sign up 25 new monthly donors before the end of the year. You can help us get there by signing up today!
Thank you for supporting CWC and hope you have a full and joyous holiday season.
Happy Holidays,
Susana and Laurel
KION 5/46: Monterey County declares "human right" to water. Monterey County became the first county in the nation to recognize the human right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible drinking water for its residents.
To see the latest from CWC and our community partners, check out our news coverage here.
Monterey County Declares Human Right to Water
CWC team members and community partners at the Monterey County Board of Supervisors meeting in November, where the board unanimously approved the Human Right to Water policy.
Recently, to draw more attention to this crisis, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the first ever county-level Human Right to Water Resolution. This resolution establishes “a policy that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes and requires that all relevant county departments consider this policy when implementing policies and regulations.”
This is a very positive step toward making the Human Right to Water a reality for all Californians.
Drinking Water Vulnerability Tool
During the drought where 1,000s of wells went dry in Tulare County, we realized not only are small systems and private well communities at a disadvantage when it comes to planning for water shortages -- the data to proactively plan for future droughts wasn’t even available. This Spring, CWC began working to build a drinking water vulnerability assessment tool that would combine different data layers including location of private wells, an estimation of groundwater quality, and an analysis of how many wells could potentially go dry in the Central Valley in the event of another drought. This tool will serve as a resource for local decision makers as they develop groundwater management plans in the years to come.
By the end of this year, we will finish the first layer of the tool which will identify domestic well households. Additional layers of the tool will be added through next summer, leading to a launch in Fall 2019.
ways to give to cwc this holiday season
Become a monthly sustaining donor! Working to ensure all Californians have access to safe, clean and affordable water is a long-term commitment. By supporting CWC monthly with $10, $25, or $50 you allow us to work strategically, knowing we have the support to be responsive to the most pressing community needs.
If you're shopping online this holiday season, you can support CWC by using AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile offers the same products and prices as Amazon; you can tell you’re on AmazonSmile if you see the “Smile” logo in the upper left and the orange square on your Internet browser tab. When you visit AmazonSmile, just be sure to select CWC as your nonprofit of choice.
Do your holiday shopping using Giving Assistant, which is a shopping portal that allows you to earn cash back by shopping online with affiliated stores. This cashback can then be donated to the nonprofit of your choice, like CWC, by signing up for free here!
Complete job descriptions and more information on how to apply, please visit: https://www.communitywatercenter.org/careers.
Current openings:
Central Coast Community Organizer - The Community Organizer position is a regular, full-time, exempt employee position that will be primarily responsible for conducting CWC’s organizing and base-building work in communities in the Northern Central Coast Region. If you have any questions, please contact Susana De Anda at [email protected].
Visalia Legal Fellow - With support from California ChangeLawyers, CWC is looking for a full-time, year-long Legal Fellow to provide legal assistance to communities without safe water and local water board members; create and update resources for community members and legal practitioners regarding drinking water governance and advocacy; and provide legal and advocacy support for other CWC programs as needed. This position will be based in CWC’s headquarters in Visalia, California. The Legal Fellow will also work with the UC Davis School of Law Aoki Water Justice Clinic to create materials that can be used by water board members and service providers that train and assist local water boards. If you have any questions, please contact Debi Ores at [email protected].
Visalia Program Associate - The Program Associate is primarily responsible for providing clerical and program support from the Visalia office. This position reports to the Director of Operations and will also work closely with other CWC personnel, independent contractors, allies and vendors. The Program Associate opportunity can be a part-time or full-time position.
UPCOMING EVENTS
DEC 17, 5-7 PM. AGUA Coalition Meeting. CWC Visalia Office, 900 W. Oak Ave., Visalia, CA 93291. Join the AGUA Coalition for their final meeting this year which will focus on planning for 2019. Please contact Karina Gallardo at (559) 733-0219 or [email protected] for more information.
DEC 21, 3-5 PM. Central Coast Community Posada. If you are a resident from Bluff/Jensen/Springfield and surrounding areas, join us for a celebration and to learn more about the drinking water quality in your communities, how it impacts your health, and resources available for accessing safe and affordable drinking water. Please contact Cesar Garcia Lopez at (831) 500-1255 or [email protected] for the address and more information.
RESOURCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Do you know if your water is safe to drink? Check out our bilingual Water FAQ page to see what steps you can take to find out what is in the water coming out of your tap.
- $9.5 Million Available for Drinking Water in Schools which may be used to install water bottle filling stations or drinking water fountains, and for interim water supplies and treatment devices for schools where contamination is an issue. If your school or district is interested in learning more about this exciting new opportunity to improve student access to safe drinking water you can access the guidelines and application here or contact Kim Hanagan, State Water Resources Control Board at (916) 323-0624. The application deadline for the grant program is March 1, 2019. Rural Community Assistance Corporation was selected by the State Water Resources Control Board to provide technical assistant during the grant application and implementation period. Contact them at [email protected] for more information.
- Funding available for water systems impacted by 1,2,3-TCP. On December 14, 2017, the State Water Board approved an early effective date for the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of contaminant 1,2,3-Trichloropropane (1,2,3-TCP). In order to obtain cost recovery for your impacted system, you need to obtain legal representation in order to sue the responsible parties, Shell and Dow Chemicals, for 1-2-3 TCP contamination. Litigation can take anywhere from a year to 3 or more years, so if you are impacted by 1-2-3 TCP and are in need of financial assistance to come into compliance with the new MCL, there are funding sources at the state available for eligible entities. The primary funding source is the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), and the Prop 1 Groundwater Grant Fund is also a secondary option to cover instances where the DWSRF doesn’t cover. In order to qualify for state funding sources you will likely be required to show you are initiating efforts to recover costs from the responsible parties. For any questions, contact the State Water Resources Control Board.
- Funding for Water and Energy Audits: Application and Instructions. More details on the CWSRF.
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS!
Huge thank you to our monthly donors, whose continual contributions help to sustain our long-term work toward achieving safe, clean and affordable drinking water for all Californians!
Amy Helfant, Anavel Valdez, Benigna Hernandez, Bill Walker, Brandon Hill, Bryan Barnhart, Carly Yoshida, Cassie Morgan, David & Idie Weinsoff, Edward Bergtholdt, Jill Ratner, Kavita Vora, Kat Wuelfing, Kelsey Hinton, Kristin Dobbin, Leonard Sklar, Nancy Bruce, Natalie Garcia-Grazier, Nimmi Damodaran, Paul Pierce, Renata Brillinger, Sandra Hocker, Vicki Woods
And thank you to our generous donors for the month of November!
Ellen Hanak Valletta, NancyBell Coe, Sergio Sanchez, Susana De Anda, The Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Vanuza Abude
If you would like to donate to CWC, please click here!