July 2020
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I hope you’re having a safe summer as we continue to shelter in place. We should recognize that this privilege is nearly impossible for farmworkers and other frontline workers who have been deemed “essential workers” and who continue to provide critical services to our communities.
As such, our community partners, including the AGUA Coalition and the Comité Para Tener Agua Sana, Limpia, y Economica (Committee for Safe, Clean and Affordable Water) continue to meet virtually to address the growing water crisis and the challenges they're facing at this time.
Now more than ever, ensuring all Californians have access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water is critical to public safety.
In that regard, we’re excited to introduce new team members who are joining the cause for water justice! You can read more about them and our monthly highlights below.
Adelante,
Susana De Anda
Co-Founder and Executive Director
CWC Delivers 250 Reusable Water Bottles to a Santa Cruz County High School
Renaissance High School teacher Chris Webb shows
one of the 250 reusable water bottles donated
to the Santa Cruz County continuation school.
Community Water Center delivered 250 reusable water bottles to Renaissance High School in Santa Cruz County this month, thanks to a partnership with UCSC graduate student Michelaina Johnson.
The water bottles, delivered by CWC Community Organizer Mayra Hernandez, come at a time that CWC is working alongside community partners and teachers to urge the State Water Board to reinstate a “maximum contaminant level,” or MCL, for chromium-6 in the school’s drinking water supply. As an interim solution, the school receives a delivery service of 5-gallon reusable bottles. For more information about chromium-6 in schools click here.
CWC Continues Virtual Pláticas
The Comité Para Tener Agua Sana, Limpia, y Economica formed
the first CWC community based organization (CBO) in the
Central Coast and continues to meet virtually.
With the ongoing stay-at-home orders in place, we continue to conduct our outreach efforts and hold our monthly community meetings virtually.
For example, on June 24 the Comité Para Tener Agua Sana, Limpia, y Economica (Committee for Safe, Clean and Affordable Water) met to discuss an upcoming study to get a better understanding of the long-term solutions for the unincorporated area of Monterey County, which is the Comité’s area of focus. The Comité works to ensure that all homes and schools in the local area have access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water.
We are very excited to conduct this study and we’re looking forward to the community’s participation in future pláticas because they have been, and will continue to be, central to finding the best solution for their community.
On One-Year Anniversary of the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, We Celebrate the Victory -- Which is Needed Now More Than Ever
July 24 marked the one-year anniversary of Governor Newsom signing SB 200, the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund!
While we commemorate this historic moment in water justice, we can't help but recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the critical need to provide safe water for all, and that too many Californians are still going without.
That's why we stand with community members and a diverse array of organizations to continue to urge the state to sustain progress and maintain full funding for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund program. CWC also urges continued urgency to implement the fund as quickly as possible -- and to finally bring safe and affordable drinking water projects to communities that have waited for years, or even decades.
In case you missed it, you can read the Dolores Huerta and Senator Kamala Harris op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News echoing these calls, as well as a Water Foundation and Community Water Center op-ed in the Visalia Times Delta.
Events
Seville Turn on the Tap! Event: Wednesday, August 5, at 9 a.m. at the tank site in Seville. The event should be small, with social distancing and face coverings in place. It will also be hosted on the Tulare County Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/countyoftulare.
CWC in the News!
Water Agencies And Advocates Join In Seeking Federal Funds To Reduce Water Costs
A broad coalition of business organizations, government agencies and consumer and environmental groups is pushing for increased aid for water providers to be included in the latest federal coronavirus relief bill.
Commentary: It’s time to deliver on human right to clean, affordable water
“One million Californians are exposed to contaminated drinking water. SB 200 requires full, consistent funding for implementation...particularly when everyone must be able to wash their hands & stay home”
— Susana De Anda, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Community Water Center, Allison Harvey Turner, Chief Executive Officer, Water Foundation
Silent Death - Toxic Water in the Valley
"It’s not a matter of where you live or where you don’t live...Clean water should flow from people’s taps. The two safest places on earth where we need to be safe is at home & at school, and neither locations are safe in California."
— Susana De Anda, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Community Water Center
Black and Latino Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to live without running water. Take East Orosi, a mostly Latino community....of California's Central Valley.
"It’s not safe water. All it wold take is ¾ of a mile of pipeline...to East Orosi to supply safe drinking water."
— Ryan Jensen, Community Solutions Manager, Community Water Center
See previous CWC news coverage here.
New CWC Team Members
We are excited to introduce Daisy Gonzalez as our new team member! Daisy joined the Visalia team this month as a Community Solutions Coordinator. Welcome, Daisy!
We are excited to introduce Catherine Sievers as our new team member! Catherine joined the Sacramento team this month as a Communications and Data Intern. Welcome, Catherine!
Read more about Catherine here
We're Hiring!
Community Organizer - Visalia Office (2 positions)
Community Solutions Coordinator - Watsonville Office
Senior Policy Advocate - Sacramento Office
Resources
Thank you to our Generous Donors!
Huge thank you to our regular monthly donors, whose continual contributions help to sustain our long-term work toward achieving safe, clean and affordable drinking water!
Amy Helfant, Anavel Valdez, Arden Wells, Arohi Sharma, Benigna Hernandez, Bessma Mourad, Bill Walker, Bryan Barnhart, Carly Yoshida, Cassie Morgan, Edward Bergtholdt, Ellen Rowe, Esperanza Pimentel, F Thomas Biglione, Frank Lukacs, Jill Ratner, Jose Pablo Ortiz Partida, Julia Emerson, Kathryn Wuelfing, Kathryn Wuelfing, Kavita Vora, Kelsey Hinton, Kristin Dobbin, Leonard Sklar, Nancy Bruce, Natalie Garcia-Grazier, Paul Pierce, Sandra Hocker, Vicente Guerrero, Vicki Woods, and Victoria Klug
And thank you to our generous donors for July!
Alisa Moore, Anna Schiller, Eone Beck, Kate Littleboy, Roberta Howe, Rosanna Esparza, and Thomas Harmon
If you would like to donate to CWC, please click here!
If you would like to become a monthly donor, please click here!