Activists Press for Human Right to Water in California

In collaboration with grassroots organizations across the state, UUSC and the UU Legislative Ministry of California are teaming up with local environmentalists and human-rights activists to push for passage of the Californian Human Right to Water Act of 2009, AB 1242. The Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, a legislative committee in Sacramento, has scheduled a hearing on the bill for Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

"In California, where communities are grappling with a growing water crisis, the need for a human-right-to-water policy is urgent," said Patricia Jones, UUSC's Environmental Justice Program Manager. "Many Americans suffer from lack of access to safe, sufficient, affordable water for daily human needs, including millions of people in California. Low-income residents, persons on fixed incomes, persons affected by serious illness, and residents in poor rural areas, struggle to maintain access to safe, affordable water.

"Passage of this bill will inspire communities around the country, and encourage state and national efforts, to ensure that water for the poor is a priority in the United States."

UUSC is collaborating with the Water Summit, a network of environmental, human-rights, and social-justice organizations from around California that are heading up the effort to adopt the human-right-to-water bill.

Debbie Davis, legislative analyst for the California Environmental Justice Coalition on Water, a network of 60 organizations across the state, points to the critical need in California: "Over 150,000 Californians lack enough safe, affordable water for their drinking, bathing, and food needs. More than 11.5 million Californians rely on water suppliers that have faced at least one violation of state drinking water standards."

As part of the California advocacy campaign, a day-long water justice and climate change conference is being held on April 18, 2009, at the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church of Walnut Creek, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek, Calif. The conference, which is open to the general public, is cosponsored by UUSC, the UU Legislative Ministry of California, and the Mt. Diablo UU church.

"From forest to desert, California Unitarian Universalists live in vastly different watersheds and work in regions with varied economic interests," said Rev. Lindi Ramsden, executive director of the UU Legislative Ministry of California. "However, we share values that California sorely needs when it comes to making decisions about how water is used, conserved, governed, and shared."

Jones pointed out that in 2005, Congress passed the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, which made safe water and sanitation in the developing world an official U.S. foreign policy goal. "President Obama, in his inaugural address, declared that a foreign policy objective of the United States would be to ensure that every person has access to safe drinking water. AB 1242 will bring this goal home to California and set into motion policies to ensure that no person is left without this basic necessity of life and dignity.

"Financing for water infrastructure," Jones continued, "and water-and-sanitation services for the poor, both in the United States and abroad, is an urgent imperative, particularly given the dual burdens of the economic crisis we face and the escalating costs from aging infrastructure, degradation of water resources, and climate change."

The UU Legislative Ministry of California is a statewide justice ministry that ensures the moral voice of Unitarian Universalist values is represented in the public arena. Guided by Unitarian Universalist principles, the ministry seeks to develop the skills of civic engagement to educate, organize, and advocate for progressive public policies that advance these values.