The UC Davis Center for Regional Change recently released a study surveying low-income San Joaquin Valley communities’ accessibility to clean water systems. Capitol Public Radio reported on the study this Tuesday, noting that researchers discovered “almost 100,000 San Joaquin Valley residents living without access to clean drinking water.”
Capitol Public Radio Reporter Ezra David Romero continued,
“This is according to a new UC Davis study, which suggests that permanent solutions aren’t that far away. These low-income communities, without city-government representation, live in eight San Joaquin Valley counties. But 66 percent of these people live within one mile of a system that could supply them clean water.
“’There’s a large number of people who could easily be hooked up to clean water at a fairly low cost to the state — that was pretty tremendous for all of us to find out,’ said co-author Camille Pannu.”
Executive Director of Restore the Delta, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla commented on the study noting,
“We are so grateful that the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and its partners who conducted this research included environmental justice communities in the Delta that are often forgotten in many San Joaquin Valley studies on access to clean water. In addition, we are delighted to see that San Joaquin Valley tribes who are also often ignored in clean water access surveys were included in the study as well.
“The report’s solutions for solving this water crisis in California are tangible, realistic action items that we want state legislators to pursue immediately, such as improved education and public access to data and planning tools in environmental justice communities, larger and equitably distributed sources of funding for drinking water system upgrades, and increased incentives for cities, counties and communities to get involved in improving their constituents access to clean water.”
ICYMI: March 15, 2018
Contact:
Nora Kovaleski, 408-806-6470, nora@kovaleskipr.com
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Restore the Delta, 209-479-2053, barbara@restorethedelta.org