Guest Editorial: California needs clean water

Photo: A young man sips some water as civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, left, speaks in support a clean water measure before the legislature, during a rally in Sacramento, Calif., Monday June 10, 2019. The California legislative leaders have agreed to $130 million a year to make improvements in communities where people still can’t drink the water from their taps. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

This editorial is from Bloomberg Opinion:

In 2012, former Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the Human Right to Water Act, recognizing that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water.”

At least 1 million Californians are still waiting to exercise that right, according to Brown’s successor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has called the state’s water crisis a “moral disgrace and a medical emergency.” Although the vast majority of the state’s water remains clean, some areas are struggling to solve serious supply and pollution problems. Without sustained action by the state, these dire challenges threaten to grow worse.

One problem is California’s climate. Most of the state’s rain and snow falls north of Sacramento, while most of the homes, businesses and farms that draw water are located south of there. Climate change has led to decreased snowpack, rising temperatures, and more frequent droughts, which are increasing demand and further straining supplies. Some rural communities lost access to tap water completely in recent years as wells went dry.

Pollution is only making matters worse. As of 2018, more than 200 water systems, serving more than 300,000 Californians, had unsafe drinking water. Many of the state’s […]

Full article: Guest Editorial: California needs clean water

More about the “Human Right to Water” Act:

2018 California Safe Drinking Water Data Challenge

How do we prevent today’s water crisis becoming tomorrow’s catastrophe?