2011 was a challenging year for environmental legislation in Sacramento as lawmakers were reluctant to support any measure that could be spun a imposing additional cost to the state or threatening jobs. Despite these challenges, Clean Water Action and its water allies achieved many notable victories for water this legislative season. The following is a list of gifts of clean water for the 2011 holiday season provided, in part, by Clean Water Action.

Human Right to Water: Clean Water Action won passage of a package of bills that will protect the fundamental right to safe and affordable drinking water. This included: AB 983, increasing access to funding for drinking water treatment in low income communities; AB1221, expanding small community eligibility for State cleanup and abatement funds; SB244, addressing drinking water and other infrastructure problems of small unincorporated communities, and AB 938, dismantling language barriers for non-English speaking residents when emergency drinking water notices are provided.

improving water quality in the san joaquin valley
Clean Water Action has worked to improve water quality in the San Joaquin Valley for nearly a decade. Hundreds of small communities there lack safe drinking water and do not have the resources to treat or replace their contaminated source water. Despite myriad projects and bond initiatives to address these problems, the list of contaminated water systems continues to grow.

Nitrate is the most common contaminant in the region. In drinking water, nitrate can make it hard for the blood stream to absorb oxygen, causing “blue baby syndrome” in infants. Other health effects linked to nitrate are cancer, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and thyroid disruption.

community action = clean water
Activists and community volunteers in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy in Santa Clara County are organizing at the grassroots to fight toxic pollution, and they are winning.

In 2003, area residents learned that their drinking water was contaminated with perchlorate from a former Olin Corporation highway flare manufacturing site. They eventually learned that the plume of underground pollution extends more than ten miles from the site, impacting hundreds of public and private wells.