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47 Willamette L. Rev. 495 (2010-2011)
Implementing the Human Right to Water in California's Central Valley: Building a Democratic Voice through Community Engagement in Water Policy Decision Making

handle is hein.journals/willr47 and id is 501 raw text is: IMPLEMENTING THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER IN CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL VALLEY: BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC VOICE THROUGH COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN WATER POLICY DECISION MAKING ROSE FRANCIS & LAUREL FIRESTONEt I. INTRODUCTION Consider this: even one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest nation on the planet has not fully implemented the human right to water. This state is California, a place which holds a special position in our collective consciousness as the land of milk and honey, producing tremendous agricultural bounty that feeds the nation and the globe.' Yet despite boasting the eighth- largest economy in the world, with a state GDP of $1.9 trillion, approximately one million Californians lack reliable access to safe, affordable drinking water on a daily basis.2 t Rose Francis is a staff attorney for the Community Water Center and graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D. in 2005. Laurel Firestone is a Co-Executive Director and co- founder of the Community Water Center as well as a member of the Tulare County Water Commission. She graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D. in 2004. The authors would like to thank Susana de Anda, Co-Executive Director of the Community Water Center, for her insight and inspiration, which we have tried to capture within this paper. Additionally, the authors would like to acknowledge Maria Herrera and our many community partners, allies, and supporters, who are doing the hard work to implement the human right to water every day. 1. Laurel Firestone, Alice Kaswan, & Sandra Meraz, Symposium, Environmental Justice: Access to Clean Drinking Water, 57 HASTINGS L.J. 1367, 1385 (2006). (Remarks by Sandra Meraz) [hereinafter Meraz Remarks] ([T]he land of milk and honey which is California--now the land of pollution and destruction and contamination.... Tulare County is the richest county, yet it's the poorest county, because it doesn't give its communities back anything but pollution.). See Paola Ramos, Latino Issues Forum, Promoting Quality, Equity, and Latino Leadership in California Water Policy: An Introduction to Water Issues Impacting Latino Communities in California, 14 (June 2003). 2. See CAL. DEP'T OF PUB. HEALTH (CDPH), Div. OF DRINKING WATER AND ENVTL. MGMT. (DDWEM), ANN. COMPLIANCE REP. OF PUB. WATER SYS. IN CAL., 5, Appendix C (Aug. 18, 2009), available at http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/drinkingwater/Documents /DWdocuments/2007%2OCompliance%20Report%/o20Amended%2OAug%201 8%202009.pdf; CDPH, DDWEM, ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT: PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS IN CALIFORNIA, CALENDAR YEAR 2006, 18, available at http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/drinkingwater/ 495