Human Right to Water

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“Good Luck Fixing the Problem”: Small Low-Income Community Participation in Collaborative Groundwater Governance and Implications for Drinking Water Source Protection

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“Good Luck Fixing the Problem”: Small Low-Income Community Participation in Collaborative Groundwater Governance and Implications for Drinking Water Source Protection
Society and Natural Resources, Routledge | June 10, 2020...
Summary
There is increasing interest in the potential of source water protection to address chronic challenges with small systems and rural drinking water provision....
There is increasing interest in the potential of source water protection to address chronic challenges with small systems and rural drinking water provision. Such a planning and management approach to increasing safe drinking water access, however, will likely require leveraging multi-stakeholder collaborative governance venues to this effect. This paper investigates the prospects of doing so using the case of California’s groundwater reform process known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act or SGMA. Interviews with drinking water stakeholders from small low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley show how existing power and resource disparities limit the prospects of integrating rural drinking water priorities into regional planning. Long-term, more fundamental changes will be needed to meaningfully transform water management in this direction. Short-term state intervention is needed to protect equity and public good goals, raising potential contradictions between devolved water management and improved drinking water access that need to be addressed.

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A Survey of Efforts to Achieve Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California

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A Survey of Efforts to Achieve Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California
Pacific Institute | April 12, 2018...
Summary
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 64/292, which declared that “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation [is] a human...
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 64/292, which declared that “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation [is] a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” Two years later, the California Legislature added section 106.3 to the California Water Code (Section 106.3), which declared that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.”

Although the formulation of the human right to water (HRTW) for sanitary purposes in Section 106.3 is not as explicit as the UN resolution, it is also true that the availability of safe and clean drinking water presupposes the sanitary disposal of human waste. Accordingly, the statute has served as the touchstone for California drinking water and sanitation efforts.

Since 2012, California government agencies and non-governmental stakeholders have focused most of their efforts on drinking water. These efforts, while commendable, have been incomplete. First, the need for drinking water access and quality continues to outstrip capacity and resources. Second, while sanitation requires an adequate supply of water, it also requires an array of public and private infrastructure and services for the hygienic disposal of human waste, including household-level infrastructure like a toilet or septic tank.

This paper will focus on needs, efforts, and recommendations to advance the right to water for drinking and sanitary purposes. First, we summarize the legislative efforts that set the foundation for the adoption of HRTW in California.

Second, we discuss the challenges facing residents of disadvantaged unincorporated communities, particularly in light of California’s recent drought, to illustrate the drinking water and sanitation needs of these communities. Third, we review the state’s implementation of Section 106.3 and efforts by non-governmental stakeholders to advance HRTW, focusing on the need to invest in programs and funds to address the right to water for sanitary purposes. Last, we provide recommendations to tackle the existing and ongoing needs related to sanitation, with a focus on household-level infrastructure.

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Drinking Water and Exclusion: A Case Study from California’s Central Valley

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Drinking Water and Exclusion: A Case Study from California’s Central Valley
California Law Review | February 1, 2012...
Summary
The American West is notorious for its water wars, and California's complex water allocation and governance challenges serve as a bellwether for contemporary water governance...
The American West is notorious for its water wars, and California's complex water allocation and governance challenges serve as a bellwether for contemporary water governance across western states, Policy makers and environmental advocates typically represent California's water woes as a regulatory problem - a failure to balance the needs of growing urban populations with ecological preservation and agricultural irrigation. These debates, however, often elide the issue of water deprivation, and they do not adequately address the concerns of an important constituency: low-income, rural communities.

This Comment argues that a focus on regulation misses a fundamental feature of water inequality: the structure and design of local water districts. Utilizing a case study of California's Central Valley to illustrate how these structural barriers operate, I argue that Calfornia's complex system of local water districts fractures governance, limits electoral participation, and undermines the State's stated environmental, equity, and utilitarian water goals. I offer suggestions for alternative local water district organization in order to address the constraints of Calfornia's current water governance regime.

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Executive Order N-10-19

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Executive Order N-10-19
Executive Department, State of California | April 29, 2019...
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Facing the Climate Gap: How Environmental Justice Communities are Leading the Way to a More Sustainable and Equitable California

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Facing the Climate Gap: How Environmental Justice Communities are Leading the Way to a More Sustainable and Equitable California
University of Southern California Program for Environmental & Regional Equity, University of California at Berkeley College of Natural Resources | October 31, 2012...
Summary
California has traditionally led the nation in protecting and preserving the environment – and we have proudly continued the trend with the 2006...

California has traditionally led the nation in protecting and preserving the environment – and we have proudly continued the trend with the 2006 passage and ongoing implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). Aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and slowing climate change, AB 32 came under political attack in 2010 when an initiative, funded largely by oil refiners, sought to delay application of the legislation’s rules. Fortunately, voters soundly rejected that effort, but many observers have worried that California’s concerns about climate could wane, particularly since the actual impacts of climate change can seem abstract and far-off.

Against this backdrop, a wide range of community-based organizations have been working to “make it real” by connecting the dots between global warming and human impacts, and by helping residents adapt now and not later. In what might be a surprise to some observers, many of these organizations are working with low-income communities of color – those often stereotyped as the least concerned about climate change.

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Groundwater Exchange Pools and Urban Water Supply Sustainability: Modeling Directed and Undirected Networks
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Groundwater Exchange Pools and Urban Water Supply Sustainability: Modeling Directed and Undirected Networks
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, American Society of Civil Engineers | August 1, 2018...
Summary
Groundwater basins are important sources of water supply and storage for many cities. Groundwater exchange pools offer additional opportunities for utilizing these common...

Groundwater basins are important sources of water supply and storage for many cities. Groundwater exchange pools offer additional opportunities for utilizing these common pool resources, but their potential role in urban water management is not clear, and modeling such exchanges can be challenging. This paper presents an analysis of the potential for groundwater basin exchange pools to contribute to urban water supply sustainability. Building on an existing model of urban water management in Los Angeles, the analysis assesses the potential for groundwater exchange pools to reduce scarcity and demonstrates a method for modeling two-way (undirected) flows within a directed-network model using linear programming. Results indicate that exchange pools can help alleviate shortages from operational changes (reduced imported water) in Los Angeles, but providing more parties with access to storage improves their effectiveness. Exchange pools could potentially provide 6–12% of total supplies and reduce shortages as much as 86%. Considerations for organizing exchange pools are discussed to explore policy implications for managing common pool resources. The analytical method for embedding undirected network flows within a larger directed-network model has wide applicability for water resource systems analysis applications, including modeling water markets and interbasin transfers.

* U.C. Davis hosts a discussion of the content by the authors at California Water Blog.

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Measuring Progress Toward Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California Defining Goals, Indicators, and Performance Measures

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Measuring Progress Toward Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California Defining Goals, Indicators, and Performance Measures
Pacific Institute | September 13, 2018...
Summary
Most people in California take for granted the water and sanitation in their homes. They turn the tap and clean, relatively inexpensive, abundant...

Most people in California take for granted the water and sanitation in their homes. They turn the tap and clean, relatively inexpensive, abundant water flows out. They flush the toilet, and waste vanishes.

Yet there are communities in California who do not have these basic necessities in their homes. In January 2018, over half a million Californians were served by water utilities that were out of compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The worst outbreak of Hepatitis A in recent memory occurred in 2016-2018 due to open defecation and lack of handwashing facilities for persons experiencing homelessness. California’s tribes continue to face problems of poor housing and water and sanitation service, with two-thirds of tribal communities reporting inadequate home plumbing in 2015. And the cost of water has increased for many, particularly among small and medium size systems, with 39 community water systems in the state charging more than $100 a month for 12 CCF of water.

In response to the problem, California enacted the Human Right to Water in 2012, declaring that “Every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.”

The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) further recognized the need to address water and sanitation for disadvantaged communities when it adopted a resolution directing staff to “develop performance measures for the evaluation of the board’s progress towards the realization of the human right to water, evaluate that progress, and explore ways to make that information more readily available to the public,” and to “work with... stakeholders to develop new or enhance existing systems to collect the data needed to identify and track communities that do not have, or are at risk of not having, safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.”

This report offers a unified framework on how to measure progress toward universal access to water and sanitation in California.

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Plumbing the Depths: Californians Without Toilets and Running Water

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Plumbing the Depths: Californians Without Toilets and Running Water
Pacific Institute | July 15, 2019...
Summary
California’s Human Right to Water law states that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and...
California’s Human Right to Water law states that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.” To date, the policy discussion on meeting California’s Human Right to Water has focused largely on expanding and improving drinking water utility services in the state, and improving the quality and reliability of drinking water for rural households using domestic wells. Sanitation and wastewater have received less attention. There also has been less attention paid to individuals and households in communities served by functional water and wastewater utilities but lacking the plumbing necessary to access those services.

To partially remedy these gaps, we set out to better understand the number of Californians with inadequate access to toilets and hot and cold running water.

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Regional nitrate and pesticide trends in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California

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Regional nitrate and pesticide trends in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California
Journal of Environmental Quality, American Society of Agronomy | September 18, 2008...
Summary
Protection of ground water for present and future use requires monitoring and understanding of the mechanisms controlling long-term quality of ground water. In this study,...
Protection of ground water for present and future use requires monitoring and understanding of the mechanisms controlling long-term quality of ground water. In this study, spatial and temporal trends in concentrations of nitrate and pesticides in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California, were evaluated to determine the long-term effects of agricultural and urban development on regional ground-water quality. Trends in concentrations of nitrate, the nematocide 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane, and the herbicide simazine during the last two decades are generally consistent with known nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide use and with the position of the well networks in the regional ground-water fl ow system. Concentrations of nitrate and pesticides are higher in the shallow part of the aquifer system where domestic wells are typically screened, whereas concentrations are lower in the deep part of the aquifer system where public-supply wells are typically screened. Attenuation processes do not seem to significantly affect concentrations.

Historical data indicate that concentrations of nitrate have increased since the 1950s in the shallow and deep parts of the aquifer system. Concentrations of nitrate and detection of pesticides in the deep part of the aquifer system will likely increase as the proportion of highly affected water contributed to these wells increases with time. Because of the time of travel between the water table and the deep part of the aquifer system, current concentrations in public-supply wells likely reflect the effects of 40- to 50-year-old management practices.

Full article available via journal subscription or through ProQuest and public library system.

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Striving for Equity in Public Investments in Water in California: An Analysis of Prop 1 Implementation

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Striving for Equity in Public Investments in Water in California: An Analysis of Prop 1 Implementation
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Institute of the Environment and Sustainability | August 21, 2019...
Summary
In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond measure to fund water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvements. Prop 1 included significant provisions...
In 2014, California voters approved a $7.5 billion bond measure to fund water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvements. Prop 1 included significant provisions to prioritize investments in disadvantaged communities.

For this report, looking at Prop 1 spending midstream, we analyzed the $2.5 billion that had been assigned to projects as of April 2019 out of $7 billion of the bond funding that has been committed so far through budget appropriations. We analyzed how much of that funding is going to projects benefiting disadvantaged communities and technical assistance efforts to increase the capacity of those communities to secure funds and manage projects. The executive summary of this report with our topline findings and recommendations below also serves as an index to the rest of the detailed report that follows.

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“Good Luck Fixing the Problem”: Small Low-Income Community Participation in Collaborative Groundwater Governance and Implications for Drinking Water Source Protection

“Good Luck Fixing the Problem”: Small Low-Income Community Participation in Collaborative Groundwater Governance and Implications for Drinking Water Source Protection

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A Survey of Efforts to Achieve Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California

A Survey of Efforts to Achieve Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California

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Drinking Water and Exclusion: A Case Study from California’s Central Valley

Drinking Water and Exclusion: A Case Study from California’s Central Valley

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Executive Order N-10-19

Executive Order N-10-19

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Facing the Climate Gap: How Environmental Justice Communities are Leading the Way to a More Sustainable and Equitable California

Facing the Climate Gap: How Environmental Justice Communities are Leading the Way to a More Sustainable and Equitable California

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Groundwater Exchange Pools and Urban Water Supply Sustainability: Modeling Directed and Undirected Networks

Groundwater Exchange Pools and Urban Water Supply Sustainability: Modeling Directed and Undirected Networks

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Measuring Progress Toward Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California Defining Goals, Indicators, and Performance Measures

Measuring Progress Toward Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California Defining Goals, Indicators, and Performance Measures

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Plumbing the Depths: Californians Without Toilets and Running Water

Plumbing the Depths: Californians Without Toilets and Running Water

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Regional nitrate and pesticide trends in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California

Regional nitrate and pesticide trends in ground water in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, California

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Striving for Equity in Public Investments in Water in California: An Analysis of Prop 1 Implementation

Striving for Equity in Public Investments in Water in California: An Analysis of Prop 1 Implementation

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