Protecting & Conserving California's Water

In 2012, the state of California passed the Human Right to Water to ensure that every California resident has safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. Making this policy a reality has been a priority for Clean Water Action ever since. We work in many ways to make this work; today we want to talk about the connection of groundwater to the Human Right to Water and our victory in convincing the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to uphold that right when it comes to groundwater.

Earth Day has always had a special meaning for me – a birthday for Earth and a call to action to do what we can to protect it. In 1970, I organized the very first Earth Day event at my school in Oakland. Eschewing the bus, I enlisted a crew of friends in a bike caravan to ride 10 miles to school. Alarmed by the oil spills along the coast, and the poisoning of wildlife and humans from DDT, my classmates and I led a day long teach-in. This was the spark that ignited what has become a lifelong career as an activist.

With all that’s happening right now, it can be difficult to pay attention to  anything other than the news of the day. I’m focused on groundwater; how we use it – and use too much; how we protect it from pollution – or don’t; and how we can ensure that it’s available when we need it. And even on a day when we’re not focused on a pandemic, groundwater can be easy to forgot about -- it's our invisible resource.