"Coachella Valley Water District has been trying for years to deal with these issues of access to safe drinking water that are outside of their system of infrastructure," Garcia said.
With his bill, AB 2060, he is hoping to make it easier for community-led organizations to receive the funds they need to tackle some of these issues locally.
Here’s what happened so far: CVWD pushes for safe water in disadvantaged communities In 2015, the nonprofit Pueblo Unido Community Development Corporation installed water filters throughout Duarte’s park, using reverse osmosis to turn the contaminated groundwater into clean drinking water.
Garcia’s bill proposes a change to the existing legislation, SB 208, which specifies how these funds can be distributed to organizations implementing water and wastewater projects.
These local agencies often have more extensive budgets than many of the small organizations who are now encouraged to participate in finding and implementing solutions to the most pressing water issues in the area they service.
(Photo: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun) Garcia’s proposal seeks to increase the amount of funding these organizations are able to receive upfront and streamline the reimbursement process, to ensure organizations with smaller budgets will be able to participate.
"It will assist our disadvantaged communities with the access to clean drinking water," he said.
Pueblo Unido CDC, is a member of the new task force and one of the organizations likely to benefit from the kind of legislation Garcia is proposing.
Pueblo Unido CDC, the Coachella Water District and a number of other local organizations have formed the Disadvantaged Communities Infrastructure Task Force to identify needs in the community, push for legislative solutions and divvy up funds that will help their members improve infrastructure in the area.
According to Assemblymember Garcia, this is only the beginning of the task force’s work to address the persistent infrastructure issues faced by residents in the east valley.