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Liberty and Water for All

When a farm worker must quench her thirst with yellow, smelly water, or a poor fisherman deny his wife and kids a bite of his mercury-laced catch, it’s easy to see why they might care about California water policy. Exploring the intersection between environmental justice, civil rights and water is the purpose of a two-year-old coalition of 40 groups facilitated by the Pacific Institute.

"The thing with water is that it has the ability to be a very progressive environmental justice arena, as opposed to problems related to the location of toxic waste and energy plants where we end up playing a defensive role," says the United Farm Workers’ Martha Guzman, a member of the coalition. "Water integrates into many different factors of life in our communities, from public health to jobs and energy and wastewater treatment."

To date, the coalition has won concrete environmental justice language in the CALFED Record of Decision (including a commitment to develop a workplan), stepped into two seats on CALFED’s citizen advisory council, and co-sponsored public workshops in Sacramento, Pasadena and San Francisco to educate locals about how to access park and water bond money (Prop 12 & 13) for community restoration projects.

"I thought policymakers would want to duck and cover when we walked in the door," says the Urban Creeks Council’s Josh Bradt, also in the coalition. "But this is an issue folks respond to, they want to engage us."

Before the coalition made its mark, many considered CALFED an "insider process" dominated by urban water interests, public agencies and agribusiness. "CALFED didn’t know who to talk to before the coalition came along," says the Pacific Institute’s Arlene Wong.

This year, the coalition is working to break out of its Bay- and CALFED-centric bonds and grow statewide, and planning to draft a blueprint for environmental justice. "For decades, if you were not a propertied person, you were not a person worthy of policy level consideration," says Bradt. "We’re trying to change that. It’s not enough to put out a pamphlet in another language."

Contact: Arlene Wong (510)251-1600

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