Water Justice Is Beginning to Flow

UUSC and the UU Legislative Ministry of California have sponsored Assembly Bill 1242, the Human Right to Water Act of 2009, which is rapidly progressing through the state legislature.

The bill would establish as California state policy that every human being has the right to clean, affordable, and accessible water. The bill has broad-based support from California nurses, teachers, as well as environmental and consumer groups.

Thanks to strong grassroots pressure, the bill won bipartisan support in the State Assembly in June and is expected to pass the State Senate in early September. Additional pressure is needed now to see that the bill is signed into law.

Once AB1242 passes the state legislature, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has until October 11, 2009, to either sign or veto the bill. If you or someone you know lives in California, our water coalition needs your help to urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB1242 into law.

A victory in California will be a historic victory for the international movement for the recognition of the human right to water.

A recent Sacramento Bee interview with Susana De Anda, of UUSC partner Community Water Center, highlights what is at stake for vulnerable communities and why they actively support the passage of AB1242.

De Anda has explained, "We work on the principle that clean drinking water is a basic human right. It should not be a privilege. We work for and from the valley to try to achieve water justice."

Debbie Davis, legislative analyst for the Environmental Justice Coalition for 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."

To help build grassroots support for the bill, a day-long water justice and climate change conference was held on April 18, 2009, at the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church of Walnut Creek. Over a 100 water-justice activists attended workshops with local and national leaders, planned outreach activities, and took part in a special Taizé water ritual.

"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."

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.

Said Patricia Jones, manager of UUSC's Environmental Justice Program, "Financing for water infrastructure 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."