Infrastructure could improve unsafe drinking water in San Joaquin Valley

That water is delivered from a patchwork of community water systems that often don’t meet state or federal standards for drinking water or from private wells that are not tested.
Most people without safe water, or about 99,000 residents, live near a public water system with clean water.
Practical solutions Ways safe drinking water can be achieved, according to the report, include: * Develop and strengthen consolidation and service extension mandates and incentives for cities, counties and community water systems; * Create larger, more stable, and more equitably distributed and coordinated sources of funding for drinking water systems; * Improve public access to data and planning tools; enhance existing data systems and coordinate water monitoring efforts.
Students in the UCD School of Law Aoki Water Justice Clinic have been meeting with these communities to secure funding to build that infrastructure.
Law students are also working with community organizations seeking policy changes to increase access to safe drinking water for low-income Californians.
The study’s purpose is to inform state policy and local planning in order to improve access to safe drinking water for these communities.
People of color made up a majority of those without safe water, the Center for Regional Change study found.
For example, while Hispanics make up just under half, or 49 percent, of the total population of the San Joaquin Valley, they represent more than two-thirds of residents in these unincorporated communities and 57 percent of all residents served by out-of-compliance water systems.
— UC Davis News School of Law Water Justice Clinic The Aoki Water Justice Clinic combines transactional law, policy advocacy, and strategic research to ensure low-income California communities receive clean, safe and affordable drinking water.
* Students are leading or supporting research collaborations, including partnerships with the UCD Center for Regional Change, UC Cooperative Extension, and UC Berkeley School of Law’s Wheeler Water Institute.

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