For more resources, action steps, a video, and information on the Human Right to Water bill package before the California State Legislature, visit UULMCA's Human Right to Water Pages.

The Human Right to Water

An outpouring of grassroots support from UUs and community partners in the Safe Water Alliance helped 4 bills in the 2011 Human Right to Water package pass both houses of the CA Legislature and Governor Brown signed them into law. Three cheers! In signing the bills, Governor Brown affirmed that “Clean drinking water is a basic human right.”

In 2012, we support passing AB685(Eng) the primary policy bill on the Human Right to Water, out of the Senate and onto the Governor’s desk. AB685 is currently held in Senate Appropriations (after having passed the Assembly in 2011). If you are interested in being part of our Human Right to Water Campaign, please email lramsden@uulmca.org.

We are pleased to work in partnership with UUSC, and the Safe Water Alliance a coalition of faith, environmental justice, health, tribal and environmental organizations working together to realize the human right to water in California.

Thanks for helping us to create a wave of change.

Bills that help to realize the Human Right to Water that were signed in 2011 are:
AB 938: Requires drinking water alerts to be translated when 10 percent or more of water district customers speak a second language.

AB 983: Makes it possible for “severely disadvantaged communities” to obtain 100 percent grant funding for water infrastructure improvement projects. Currently, these communities can qualify only for up to 80 percent in grants and must take out the remaining 20 percent in loans that residents may have difficulty repaying.

AB 1221: Allows state-recognized tribes and nonprofit organizations (such as mutual water agencies) access to the state’s Cleanup and Abatement Account to pay for pollution mediation. Although these organizations pay into the account in the form of pollution fines, they do not currently qualify for cleanup money.

SB 244: Requires cities and counties to consider the infrastructure needs – including clean drinking water access – of disadvantaged and unincorporated communities in urban planning efforts, including general plan updates.

Climate Change Action

“We undertake this work for the preservation of life on Earth.”
                              - UUA Statement of Conscience, Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change