he new law passed by the state of California in the United States on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation is an “inspiring example” for governments, a United Nations independent expert said today.
The assembly bill 685, adopted on 25 September in the most populated US state, with more than 37 million inhabitants, also provides for coordination among state agencies about the use of water for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.
“When I received the good news about the adoption of this bill, my thoughts immediately went to those people I met last year in California who still do not benefit from this fundamental human right,” said the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque.
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So, what’s new in Arvin, California?
The Arvin community has taken matters into their own hands-conducting their own air monitoring. We are yet to see any real action from the Air District.
One year into the Bucket Brigade project, The Committee for a Better Arvin has taken 11 air samples for VOC’s and sulfurs. They have been collecting data on ozone pollution daily and are planning to get a particulate monitor up and running by the end of the year.
Turns out, the air monitoring results prove that the air in Arvin can causenegative health effects both over short and long term exposure. We’ve even detected elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, the same gas that was responsible for the two workers deaths last fall.
Governor Jerry Brown on September 25 signed historic legislation establishing a state policy that every Californian has a human right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible drinking water.
AB 685, authored by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Alhambra), also requires that all relevant state agencies consider the state policy when creating policies and regulations.
“Around 8.5 million people in Californians repeatedly experience excessive levels of toxicity in their drinking water every year,” said Assemblymember Eng. “As the representative of a district that sits on an aquifer that is the largest Superfund in the United States, I am very pleased that Governor Brown agreed that safe, clean, affordable and accessible drinking water is a basic human right and is willing to codify it into state policy.”
Governor Jerry Brown yesterday signed historic legislation establishing a state policy that every Californian has a human right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible drinking water.
AB 685, authored by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Alhambra), also requires that all relevant state agencies consider the state policy when creating policies and regulations.
By signing this bill into law, California becomes the first state in the nation to declare safe, clean, affordable and accessible water a human right.
Reducing our carbon output isn’t just good for the climate, it’s good for local health. When we price carbon, we potentially reduce other co-pollutants at power plants, oil refineries and industrial facilities — particularly in minority communities located disproportionately located near these pollution sources.
And these co-benefits need to be considered in any carbon pricing mechanism, argues a new report released by the Economics for Equity and the Environment Network.
The Valley’s summertime air is dangerous at times — 91 ozone violations and counting this year. And you’re paying a $29 million annual fine for failing to clean it up faster.
So are you any better off now than you were 10 years ago?
Yes, say government watchdog agencies. Not really, say environmentalists, health advocates and community activist groups.
Three metropolitan areas in California’s Central Valley, the region with the highest farm revenues in the country, rank among the poorest in the state and nation, Census figures released Thursday show.
Fresno, Modesto and Bakersfield-Delano areas are among the top five U.S. regions with the highest percentage of residents living below the poverty line.
The Fresno area, ranked as the second most impoverished in the nation, trailed only the U.S.-Mexico border area of McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, the American Community Survey figures show.
Like many small towns in Tulare County, Monson has hit a wall with the state over getting clean water to drink, but there is good news for the 200 residents in the impoverished community.
Local Rotary Clubs are paying for extensive water filters in each home — a service the organizations usually provide for Third World communities coping with squalid conditions. Members decided it was time to help Monson.
“We just want families to have healthy drinking water,” said Patrick Isherwood, president of Sunrise Rotary Club of Tulare. “The filters will last a few years.”
Local authorities hope it gives them enough time to solve the funding maze of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the agency doling out the public money.
Truckers can relax. Congressman Jim Costa says that my idea of charging tolls for big-rigs on I-5 and Highway 99 for air-pollution cleanup was dead on arrival.
But Costa, D-Fresno, and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, have renewed a decade-old effort to designate the San Joaquin Valley a federal air quality empowerment zone.
Their bill seeks $20 million a year in federal grants through 2017 to clean the air and reduce asthma rates that are five times the national average. There is no prospect of the bill passing a gridlocked Congress this year. Costa says the goal is to “set the table” for 2013 following the November elections.