It meant our fundamental human right to clean, safe, affordable and accessible water would be preserved.
It meant we no longer had to ponder the horrendous consequences of what life would be like if we turned on the faucet and clean, safe water would not flow.
They suffer from a water crisis no amount of rainfall can solve.
There are about 300 unsafe drinking water systems across the state and together they present a public health problem greater in scope than the well-chronicled water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
By and large, they serve low-income families for whom having to buy water — in addition to paying their water bill — presents a monstrous economic challenge.
Senate Bill 623, introduced by one of the authors of this article, would create a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund designed to provide emergency relief and a sustainable long-term solution by funding water treatment facilities that these small water systems cannot possible afford on their own.
Funding would come from two sources.
Because in many cases the source of contamination is a high concentration of nitrates, an unavoidable byproduct of farming operations, the agricultural community is stepping up to support a fee to cover nitrate-related costs.
It is a problem we are morally compelled to solve, and a sensible solution is at hand.
Tim Johnson is president and CEO of the California Rice Commission.