Empowering Local Communities.
There is no greater way to impact a community in the long-term than to build local capacity and empower its people to advocate for themselves. CWC promotes the direct participation of impacted communities in the development of effective and affordable regional clean water solutions. Our work focuses on:
1. Building community capacity to engage in water infrastructure planning and funding processes;
2. Advocating for better water quality, water planning, and water funding policies, as well as working to eliminate barriers to disadvantaged community participation at the local, regional, and state levels;
3. Facilitating direct contact and communication between impacted community members and the decision-makers impacting local community drinking water challenges; and
4. Developing and disseminating resources and information to support strong community voices in decision-making processes impacting drinking water in the valley.
To these ends, CWC provides extensive organizing, outreach, meeting facilitation, and technical assistance support for local development of long-term, sustainable solutions for safe drinking water. This support includes helping local communities identify specific contaminants in their water supply, sources of pollution, and potential project alternatives. CWC also facilitates the development of joint-solutions among communities to reduce long-term vulnerability and strengthen the resources available to resolve the problem. In this work, CWC utilizes a strong and growing list of project partners to develop additional funding sources through public agencies, private organizations, and charitable foundations to invest in drinking water solutions.
East Porterville for Water Justice
East Porterville for Water Justice (EPWJ) is a community-based organization working to ensure the residents of East Porterville, an unincorporated community of private well owners severely impacted by the California drought, have access to clean and affordable water. CWC worked with residents and stakeholders in spring 2016 to help organize and facilitate EPWJ, and the group has held monthly community meetings since March 2016 to work towards a community-wide drinking water solution.
In East Porterville, momentum for water justice has been building, and combined with prioritization at the state level, progress is being made rapidly toward a long-term water solution. The unincorporated community will soon be hooked up to the City of Porterville, which will provide residents of East Porterville a sustainable source of water. We're working closely with EPWJ to ensure that the residents who will ultimately be drinking that water have a seat at the decision-making table.
For more information on East Porterville for Water Justice, please contact:
To learn more about East Porterville’s Water Conditions: https://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/porterville.cfm
Northern Tulare County Water Alliance
In late 2013, the communities of Cutler, East Orosi, Monson, Orosi, Seville, Sultana, and Yettem received state funding to begin planning the Northern Tulare County Regional Water Project, in partnership with the Alta Irrigation District. These small, unincorporated communities have struggled to provide safe drinking water to their residents, because the region’s groundwater is contaminated with high levels of nitrates and the pesticide DBCP. Residents from the seven communities have formed the Northern Tulare County Water Alliance to build the economies of scale necessary to reliably and affordably provide safe water into the foreseeable future and through the next drought.
The development of a regional drinking water project would be an innovative solution that could ensure long-term water quality for over 17,000 residents. Despite the choice of Cutler and Orosi to leave the regional Alliance , there was a suggestion that the remaining 3 parties attempt to move forward. The final version of the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) was circulated for review in advance of the SWB’s September 30 deadline. By September 30, it had been approved by Tulare County and East Orosi, and on October 5 it was approved by Sultana, making the Northern Tulare County Regional Water Alliance official. Moving forward, the next steps are to complete an Alternatives Analysis and Engineering Report for a project funded by the SWB. CWC is committed to assisting the Alliance in the coming months as they begin to explore options for regional collaboration!
More information on the Northern Tulare County Regional Safe Drinking Water Project is available here.
Tulare Lake Basin DAC Water Study
CWC led the coordination and facilitation of a diverse stakeholder group of local community and state agencies to guide the four Tulare Lake Basin Counties (Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno) in development of a regional plan for disadvantaged community (DACs) drinking water and wastewater needs. The project goals were to provide solutions that DACs can implement to provide safe, clean, and affordable potable water supplies, and effective and affordable wastewater treatment and disposal. The solutions also address long-term sustainability for operation, management, and financing these services. For more information on the Study, click
Here.
Funded by a $2 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources to Tulare County, this plan will ultimately be integrated into the various regional water management plans in the region. It will also be used to inform the County General Plan and funding application efforts.
The project has created a comprehensive database of more than 500 unincorporated communities reaching over 700 stakeholders in the four-county region, and identified their water and wastewater needs. Nearly 200 of these communities lack any type of centralized or regulated drinking water system. The project used the priorities identified by the stakeholder group to develop pilot studies that guided the development of a comprehensive plan for the region. The final plan is now complete and will be available publicly in September 2014, along with the database of unincorporated communities. The three-year study provides concrete recommendations to ensure safe drinking water and effective wastewater treatment for disadvantaged communities. CWC will work to foster implementation of the Study recommendations at all levels, local, regional and state.
Upper Kings Basin DAC Pilot Project
CWC also played a lead role in facilitating joint planning processes for DACs in the Upper Kings Basin (a sub-basin of the Tulare Lake Basin that includes parts of Fresno, Tulare, and Kings counties along the Kings River). The Upper Kings Basin Pilot Study was funded by a $500,000 grant by the California Department of Water Resources. The project sought to develop a model for Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) agencies that better addressed the needs of DACs. Tasked with developing partnerships in disadvantaged communities within the Upper Kings Basin, CWC worked to engage both residents and stakeholders in the development of innovative solutions to local water needs.
This project identified more than 100 disadvantaged communities in the sub-basin and engaged in smaller-scale integrated planning efforts to identify potential shared solutions. As a result, the project developed a comprehensive inventory of DACs for the Upper Kings Basin Authority’s Integrated Regional Water Management Planning efforts. It has also resulted in more disadvantaged communities engaging directly in the region’s Integrated Regional Water Management Planning efforts. Furthermore, seven communities have committed to working together to explore the sharing of services and many more joint study projects will develop solutions for five different sub-regions. For more information on this study, click here or read the final report here.
AGUA Coalition
The Community Water Center currently coordinates and provides staff to the AGUA Coalition (la Asociación de Gente Unida por el Agua, or the Association of People United for Water).
AGUA is a regional, grassroots coalition of impacted community residents and allied non-profit organizations dedicated to securing safe, clean, and affordable drinking water for the San Joaquin Valley. AGUA was formed in 2006 in response to widespread contamination of valley drinking water sources, recognizing the need for a united voice of impacted communities to advocate for action by responsible agencies. AGUA currently includes 54 members from 20 impacted communities and 9 non-profit organizations. AGUA meets on a monthly basis and is run by a Coordinating Council comprised of representatives from each community who vote on campaign activities, events, coalition governance, and finances.
AGUA organizes communities to address their immediate drinking water needs and advocate for actions that target the root cause of drinking water contamination in the Central Valley. For more information or to get involved in AGUA, see here.
