By Michael Hunter Adamson

The only water easily available to many low-income inhabitants of the San Joaquin Valley’s smaller, non-incorporated settlements is well water tainted with arsenic and nitrates from surrounding activities. But two state bills ensure that these communities – and everyone else in California – not only have the right to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water, but also get access to public water infrastructure and services as needed. Assembly Bill 2501, approved this fall, “makes sure the state’s consolidation authority can order a city or special district to extend clean drinking water services to people in domestic dwellings,” says Phoebe Seaton of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. Advocacy on the part of affected communities, with help from organizations like the Community Water Center, has helped highlight the injustice of low-income households having to drink and wash in expensive bottled water to protect their health.

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San Joaquin Communities Access Cleaner Water Due to New Legislation

By Michael Hunter Adamson

The only water easily available to many low-income inhabitants of the San Joaquin Valley’s smaller, non-incorporated settlements is well water tainted with arsenic and nitrates from surrounding activities. But two state bills ensure that these communities – and everyone else in California – not only have the right to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water, but also get access to public water infrastructure and services as needed. Assembly Bill 2501, approved this fall, “makes sure the state’s consolidation authority can order a city or special district to extend clean drinking water services to people in domestic dwellings,” says Phoebe Seaton of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. Advocacy on the part of affected communities, with help from organizations like the Community Water Center, has helped highlight the injustice of low-income households having to drink and wash in expensive bottled water to protect their health.

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About the author

Michael Hunter Adamson was born and partly raised in the Bay Area and spent his childhood balancing adventure with mischief. As an equally irresponsible adult he has worked for The Nature Conservancy, the arts and education nonprofit NaNoWriMo, taught English in Madrid-based High School equivalent, and volunteers with The Marine Mammal Center. As a writer for Estuary and the editor of the Bay Area Monitor, Michael employs his love for nature and his interest in people to help tell the unfolding story of the living Earth.

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