Our Impact
2022-23 Annual Report
At CWC we value transparency within our movement. We've been working towards clean, safe, and affordable water. Check out our 2022-23 Annual Report for key updates and what's to come!
Human Right to Water
+ Read More
The Human Right to Water states “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.” AB 685, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012, is the first law of its kind in the U.S. to recognize safe drinking water as a human right.
This promise, or vision, was an important milestone for the movement for water justice in California. It serves as a clear values statement for elected officials, government agencies, community residents and other stakeholders to unify behind. Since the Human Right to Water Law passed, CWC and it's partners have witnessed - and advocated for - the advancement of funding, data collection, technical assistance, and other actions to better understand the problem and craft solutions to end CA’s drinking water crisis.
Lasting Safe Water
+ Read more
When the last severe California drought hit, thousands lost running water in the San Joaquin Valley. Among the hardest hit was East Porterville, with more than 300 wells going dry. With families showering in portables in church parking lots and relying on cases of plastic water bottles for drinking, community partners were living in terrible, unacceptable conditions. CWC helped connect residents to the media to bring a spotlight to the issue and helped organize the community under East Porterville for Water Justice. Residents pressed the state for a solution, which ultimately came in 2018, with more than 750 homes being connected to safe, reliable water from the City of Porterville.
We don’t ever want another community to have to live through the hardship that the residents of East Porterville endured. That is why we are supporting greater drought planning for low-income communities with vulnerable drinking water supplies.
Safe Water Now
+ Read More
People with contaminated taps need access to safe water now as well as long-term solutions. From Santa Cruz to Ventura, CWC is providing safe drinking water to low-income Central Coast households. We are currently providing water to more than 150 households, and just as important, building relationships with them to develop community-wide solutions for safe water at the tap. Current projects include a Feasibility Study and Water Treatment Pilot.
Funding for the Hardest Hit Communities
+ Read More
For more than a decade, we have witnessed many low-income communities being turned down for drinking water infrastructure and treatment projects because “the projects don’t pencil out.” This means communities — facing contamination they did not create — cannot qualify for funding to address the problem and are often left with a bill for water they cannot drink. Determined to find a solution, CWC partnered with allies and impacted communities to pass the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SB 200). This law helps address the funding gap for the more than 300 communities without safe water in California. More than $1.4 billion will be made available over the next decade to address some of the most intractable drinking water issues in low-income communities.
This multi-year community-led effort has entered a new phase as funds are starting to reach communities with formal oversight from impacted community members. CWC is also providing technical assistance to communities to address long-standing drinking water contamination and affordability issues.
Building Community Power for Lasting Change
+ Read More
Made up of more than 25 communities of color impacted by unsafe water in the San Joaquin Valley, the AGUA Coalition has been fighting for more than a decade for safe water. They won a historic court battle to secure water protections from dairy waste, advocated for the successful passage of the Human Right to Water (AB 685) and continue to engage on large-scale policy reforms to bring funding to impacted communities and prevent the pollution of groundwater for generations to come. Learn more about AGUA here.