Wave of Support for Legislative Package to Establish Human Right to Water in California

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2011

For more information:

Debbie Davis, Environmental Coalition for Water, 916-743-4406 or debbie@ejcw.org
Shelley Moskowitz, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, 857-222-8824 or smoskowitz@uusc.org

Wave of Support for Legislative Package to Establish Human Right to Water in California

Advocates from across state to testify, lobby and rally at Capitol

Safe-water advocates and residents of California communities without access to safe drinking water will rally in Sacramento to show broad-based support for the historic human-right-to-water bill package on the day two key policy committees take votes on five of the six bills in the water package. Throughout the day, advocates from impacted communities in Tulare County, Maywood in Los Angeles County and Coachella in Riverside County along with water-justice allies will be in the capitol to testify and meet with policy makers.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, noon–12:30 p.m. (PDT)

WHERE: 11th and L Street, Sacramento, CA

WHO: Representatives of impacted California communities, including Mark Franco, Winnemem Wintu Tribe; Susana De Anda and Laurel Firestone, Community Water Center with Coachella and Tulare County residents; Debbie Davis, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water with Maywood residents; Reverend Lindi Ramsden, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California; Shelley Moskowitz, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

MEDIA VISUALS: Water-justice mascot La Gotita will join 50+ advocates for a public rally.

Advocates are also available for interviews and comment outside of committee hearing rooms.

9:00 a.m. — advocates will be in Room 437 to testify at the Water Parks and Wildlife Committee hearing on AB 685 (Eng), which would make it a policy of the state that every Californian has a human right to clean, accessible water for basic human needs.

1:30 p.m. — advocates will pack Room 444 for the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee to provide testimony on five bills that make changes in state law to begin implementing the human right to water policy and promote access to safe water for the health and well-being of all Californians.

The human-right-to-water bill package includes the following bills:

• AB 685 (Eng) Human Right to Water
• AB 938 (V.M. Perez) Language Access on Public Health Notifications
• AB 983 (Perea) Access to Clean Up and Abatement Funding
• AB 1187 (Fong) Drinking Water Plan
• AB 1221 (Alejo) Drinking Water SRF
• SB 244 (Wolk) General Plans

BACKGROUND:

More than 11.5 million Californians rely on water from suppliers that experienced at least one violation of State Drinking Water Standards as reported to the Department of Public Health in 2004. As many as 8.5 million Californians rely on supplies that experienced more than five instances of unsafe levels in a single year.

In far too many communities, the sole water supply is contaminated, and families unable to afford treatment are left entirely without safe water. In the Central Valley and Central Coast regions, more than 90 percent of communities depend on groundwater for drinking while nitrate levels in groundwater are sometimes well above safe limits. These communities are at particular risk of adverse health impacts from contaminated water supplies.

For more information contained in this release, please contact Shelley Moskowitz at 857-222-8824 or smoskowitz@uusc.org.

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