Everyone in California — and everywhere else, for that matter — deserves clean drinking water.
But relying on charity to upgrade failing water systems in low-income California communities is not the way to meet a basic human need.
Yet that’s essentially what state Sen. Bill Monning is proposing in SB 845.
The bill would require water purveyors throughout the state to offer their customers the “opportunity” to pay a monthly fee of 95 cents per household.
Except Monning proposes to do it differently.
Instead of asking us whether we want to participate, he proposes the 95-cent fee automatically be added to customers’ bills, unless they choose to opt out.
How many people actually read the inserts that come with their bills, or even pay attention to the amount of their bill unless it’s unusually high?
Sen. Monning’s soda-shaming bill does not make us a ‘kooky’ nanny state On top of that, this would not be a one-and-done opt out; customers who don’t want to contribute would have to opt out every year.
In a Viewpoint written for the Sacramento Bee, a former chairman of the state Water Resources Control Board warned that the voluntary fee would be costly and inefficient to administer: “… it would require more than 3,000 local water systems to change their billing systems and hire new employees to manage collection of the contributions, all at significant expense.” As an alternative, he suggests adding water system improvements to the list of causes Californians can donate to on their state income tax form.
The Legislature should either find the money in the budget — or find the political courage to pass a tax.

WELCH, WV (WVNS) – A grant of $1,180,000 is headed for McDowell County thanks to a rural development grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The money will be used to fund Phase II of the Elkhorn Creek water project.
When complete the project will improve the potable water for Kimball, Northfork and Keystone.
"The people of McDowell County and southern West Virginia helped build our nation.
"Through my role on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I have worked to deliver solutions that will help those reliant on old coal camp water systems; and as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I have advocated for programs that fund projects like this to replace older municipal systems that are no longer dependable.
"Last year, my staff had the opportunity to tour the Keystone and Northfork water systems and discussed the Elkhorn Creek project with local leaders.
A applaud the work these elected officials and professionals do for their communities every day.
I am excited to see this funding come to McDowell County, and I will continue working with those folks on the ground to help advance the completion of this project."
Every community deserves this access and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have made it a priority to ensure our communities in rural West Virginia are not left behind," stated Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
"I will continue to fight so that every corner of West Virginia has the resources to ensure every household has clean water."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it has awarded nearly $84.5 million to New Jersey to help finance water infrastructure projects.
The funds will primarily be used to upgrade wastewater and drinking water systems throughout the state.
EPA awarded $65,589,000 to the New Jersey Clean Water State Revolving Fund program and $18,957,000 to the New Jersey Drinking Water Revolving Fund program.
These programs are administrated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and its financing program, the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank.
These awards, plus a 20 percent state match and repayments from prior CWSRF and DWSRF loans and interest earnings and bond issuances, will enable the financing of up to about $450 million of clean water and drinking water infrastructure projects in New Jersey, the EPA said.
“Working with our state and local partners to ensure our communities have affordable access to clean drinking water remains a critical priority for EPA,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez in a statement.
“We are pleased to provide significant funding as part of our overall efforts to help New Jersey meet its critical water infrastructure needs.” Based on estimates from the U.S. Water Alliance, New Jersey’s CWSRF and DWSRF programs have the potential to create approximately 7,000 jobs.

The City of Boulder has had its share of issues with drinking water over the last few years.
Perhaps you read about elevated levels of chromium-6 (the contaminant discussed at length in Erin Brockovich) in a 2014 article in Boulder Weekly, or maybe you’ve seen more recent coverage of the elevated levels of haloacetic acids at Betasso Water Treatment Plant in the Daily Camera last year.
That knowledge gap was the impetus for World Water Monitoring Day, which America’s Clean Water Foundation established in 2003 as a way to commemorate the 1972 enactment of the Clean Water Act.
The event was originally celebrated on the law’s anniversary, Oct. 18, but has since been moved to its current date, Sept. 18.
Participants have ranged from local environmental education nonprofits to school groups to families, and Russell emphasizes that monitoring one’s water supply is easier than you might think.
Whether as individuals, school groups or other stake holders, the volunteer stewards monitor not only water quality but other indicators of watershed health in an effort to compile high-quality data that can be used for education efforts and to inform decision-makers about the health of Colorado’s waterways.
The City also “routinely samples nearly 100 locations in the distribution system for chlorine residual, bacteria, disinfection byproducts, lead, copper, pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness.” The City of Boulder “goes above and beyond regulatory requirements to ensure safe drinking water and monitors for potential changes in water quality,” Dunlap says, and points out that citizens can learn about the City’s findings on its drinking water quality webpage.
Though the Sept. 18 event is a rallying cry for citizen scientists to get involved in local water quality monitoring, the EarthEcho Water Challenge and River Watch’s efforts are a year-round affair: they’ll happily take data from those monitoring their water at any time.
The publicly available water quality data collected by citizens, “may be used by local environmental education nonprofits for their own restoration efforts, or it could be used by government officials,” says Russell, who encourages citizens to look up historical data for their waterways as well.
In other words, Russell says, monitoring your local water quality is just the first step.

Financing, whether public or private, is essential to the development, maintenance and improvement of water supply and sanitation (WSS) systems.
The SDGs call upon the world to achieve universal WSS access that is safe, affordable, and available to all by 2030.
The World Bank Group’s Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) understands that additional finance for water infrastructure is absolutely critical to achieve the SDGs.
The GWSP also operates on the understanding that improving WSS financing involves three components.
One effective way to achieve this is for governments to establish the policy, planning and governance frameworks that will improve the sector efficiency, transparency and creditworthiness to attract the commercial finance required to meet WSS goals.
Second, improving service providers’ performance and governance.
Increasing both operational and capital efficiency allows service providers to deliver better services more effectively, thus freeing up resources to invest in improving or extending services.
Thanks to Bangladesh’s experience of rural microfinance, lessons learned here can be replicated elsewhere and are being incorporated into the design of a larger World Bank-funded project.
The GWSP will continue to provide support through analytical work, technical assistance and knowledge to support innovative approaches that leverage commercial finance for water supply and sanitation.
The panels cover topics ranging from “Can Valuing Water Change our Attitude towards Water?” to “Follow up on the High-Level Panel Water: Financing & Valuing.” The work of the GWSP demonstrates that financing to support water investments may include the full spectrum of funding sources from micro-finance to vendor or supplier finance to commercial loans, bonds and even equity.

Thanks to USAID’s support, 37.3 million people were granted access to improved water supplies, and 24.1 million people were granted access to modernized sanitation facilities between 2008-2016.
Tragically, over 800 children under the age of five die every day from preventable diseases; it is their lack of access to proper water, sanitation, and good hygiene that contribute to these deaths.
Economic, social and political structures that perpetuate poverty and discrimination must be changed significantly if poverty and poor health are to be addressed aggressively.
Guinea worm disease People contract the disease when drinking water contaminated with Dracunculus larvae.
Hiv/Aids A hygienic environment, clean water and adequate sanitation are key factors in preventing opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS, and in the quality of life of people living with the disease.
Each year, there are 300 million to 500 million cases of malaria, with about 1 million being children.
About 12 million people are affected by typhoid every year.
This is especially true for women and girls whose lives are in need of sustainable development.
In addition, those hours of searching deprive women and girls of the chance at an education or the ability to work a steady job.
Some of these goals specifically hope to improve access to basic needs of the population that lives in poverty: End poverty everywhere End hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Build resilient infrastructure Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable The efforts of the global community have been marginally successful across the years, but the population of the Earth is decades away from achieving significant change in water and sanitation concerns.

A boil-water advisory for much of Narragansett and South Kingstown is expected to remain in effect into the weekend as officials continue working to locate and address the source of E. coli bacteria detected in the local water supply.
They’re preparing their report to the state, and we expect testing to begin soon,” South Kingstown Town Manager Robert Zarnetske said Tuesday.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, the advisory was issued after E. coli was detected during routine sampling by SUEZ, which supplies the other affected water systems.
They will review the data and determine when the boil-water advisory can be lifted.” According to the Department of Health, the advisory will remain in effect “until corrective actions are completed, three consecutive days of satisfactory bacteria results are obtained, and RIDOH approves the lifting of the advisory.” A bottle-filling station was set up at the Kingston Fire Station on Bills Road after the announcement of the boil-water advisory, although the Department of Health on Tuesday announced the station has been moved to West Kingston Park at 3840 Kingstown Road in West Kingston.
Those measures have included the delivery of more than 200 five-gallon water bottles, along with water coolers, to the school district, and the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency’s delivery of pallets of bottled water to South Kingstown High School.
“We will have bottled water available for students for drinking and in the cafeterias for cooking, and we will have hand sanitizer available in lavatories.
The state also offered guidance for those in need of special assistance.
The Rhode Island Department of Health is communicating guidance to restaurants and other food establishments in the area.” The release also states: “E.
Under this standard, drinking water must be free of these bacteria for water to be consumed from a system.” Residents are advised to contact a health care provider if someone served by one of the affected water systems experiences diarrhea and any of the following symptoms: fever over 101.5 degrees, blood in the stool, prolonged vomiting, signs of dehydration or diarrheal illness lasting more than three days.
South Kingstown-South Shore: 401-789-9331 (South Kingstown Town Hall) South Kingstown-Middlebridge: 401-789-9331 (South Kingstown Town Hall)

House Democratic floor leader Christine Greig, of Farmington Hills, speaks while other House Democrats look on during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Democrats accuse majority Republicans of "inaction" on the contamination of tap water with old industrial chemicals, a charge the GOP denies.
less House Democratic floor leader Christine Greig, of Farmington Hills, speaks while other House Democrats look on during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Democrats … more Photo: David Eggert, AP LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday accused majority Republicans of "inaction" on the contamination of tap water with old industrial chemicals, demanding that hearings be held to strengthen Michigan’s standard and to study why an internal state report that warned of dangers was ignored.
The renewed calls came a day before the GOP-led Legislature was to return to session after a summer break during which residents in the city of Parchment and Cooper Township in Kalamazoo County were told not to drink their municipal water for a month due to high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Rep. Winnie Brinks, a Grand Rapids Democrat, said at a Capitol news conference that the state does not have an enforceable PFAS limit established in law, and the combined standard of 70 parts per trillion — set by Gov.
"This cap would be the lowest in the country and would ensure that the water coming out of Michiganders’ taps is worth of being called pure," said Brinks, who introduced legislation in December to lower the PFAS standard.
Asked why no hearings have been held, spokesman for GOP House Speaker Tom Leonard said Republicans "are focused on getting the state’s emergency response up and running first."
"The state is still working on testing water systems statewide and finding affected communities, and the Legislature’s focus needs to remain on this emergency testing and response until experts can determine the extent of the problem," D’Assandro said in a statement.
"That report was buried for six years.
Snyder — who is pushing a fee increase to in part help clean up PFAS sites — said last week that the reason Michigan is finding the man-made chemicals is because it is proactively testing for them unlike in other states, after learning lessons from the Flint water crisis.
His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20Eggert

The water group suing Newark over elevated levels of lead in its tap water wants city officials to provide bottled water for its most vulnerable residents.
She worried the city’s fixes would take too long; residents need immediate access to safe drinking water while the federal lawsuit winds its way through court, Imperiale said.
Newark has reported elevated levels of lead in its tap water for the last 18 months, according to state data.
In Newark, one July sample recorded lead levels at 250 parts per billion — more than 16 times the federal action level, data show.
Officials blame the city’s old lead service lines — that connect publicly-owned water mains to each property — for the problems.
"We sell water from our system to other municipalities, including Pequannock Township, Bloomfield, Nutley, Belleville, Elizabeth, and Wayne.
The city does not own Newark’s lead service lines, which means property owners are responsible for any replacements costs.
"The city has an obligation to be treating the water properly such that it’s not corrosive," Imperiale said.
The NRDC motion asks the city to: Respond to all residents requesting tap water testing in an expedited manner and provide results within a week.
Open drinking water resource centers where residents can request water testing or pick up filters or bottled water.

Cambodia has, in fact, been classified as one of the 20 most corrupt countries in the world.
Phnom Penh, however, is only one city in a country of over 16 million people.
Rural areas have, by comparison, seen relatively little development, despite the fact that around 70 per cent of Cambodians work in agriculture and an estimated 80 per cent live in rural areas.
Despite typically receiving reliable levels of rainfall, rural areas of Cambodia struggle to access clean water.
Rural Cambodians still primarily depend on untreated water sources, such as rivers, for agriculture and personal water use, while the PPWSA provides access to sanitary water services across the majority of Phnom Penh.
There is an intrinsic link between corruption within the Cambodian public service and the poor access rural Cambodians have to potable water.
Among other benefits, this model allows households to maintain autonomy in allocating financial resources based on their own priorities.
Much can be drawn from the success the PPWSA has had in addressing corruption as a barrier to improving water access in Phnom Penh.
The Cambodian public service must take steps to reduce corrupt practices, such as bribery; it must facilitate a principled, state-wide workplace culture and implement improved transparency processes.
This will also allow private sector organisations to be more effective in aiding rural Cambodians to gain access to clean water.