We are thrilled to share that today, at long last, California has made history by passing SB 200, the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund.
We are thrilled to share that today, at long last, California has made history by passing SB 200, the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund on a strong bipartisan vote. This will provide over $1.4 billion over the next 11 years to finally realize California’s promise of safe water for all!
13 years ago, CWC was founded on the simple idea that every Californian deserves access to safe and affordable drinking water — a basic human right, not a privilege — and that real change must be brought about by impacted communities themselves.
The need for an ongoing, sustainable commitment to safe drinking water was clear from the beginning. Yet, we knew then that real change would be hard, and that progress might not happen as quickly as we would like.
That is what makes today’s victory so special. Because after over a decade of building a foundation and a nearly three year campaign to pass the Fund, we can finally say — we did it!
Passage of the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund represents an unprecedented step toward achieving every Californian’s basic human right to safe water, and will permanently and positively change the lives of the one million Californians without safe drinking water.
We are so proud that this victory was secured by the direct advocacy, over the course of years and decades, of impacted communities themselves. Together we — and you — persevered and built a movement for water justice and never gave up. Through it all, we remained thirsty for justice — and today justice has finally been achieved.
We thank Senator Monning, who made his office a welcoming space for our communities, for his tireless work to pass the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. We also thank the Governor, the Speaker and Pro Tem, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, and the many other legislative supporters and coalition organizations who joined hands together in partnership with environmental justice organizations to make history.
We now urge a swift signature of SB 200 so that California can begin the necessary work of implementing safe and affordable drinking water projects for the communities that desperately need them — and thereby finally achieve the California promise of safe and affordable drinking water for all.
We hope you will continue to join with us, with renewed commitment, as part of this incredible movement for water justice. Today we celebrate, tomorrow the work continues.
