Watersheds Work Group
The Watershed Work Group of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water is working toward preserving, restoring, and managing watersheds in environmental justice communities and supporting sustainable watershed management. Working together the WG members will coordinate and integrate our efforts to create community-based watershed programs and plans that educate and advocate for watershed protection, restoration, management and policy enforcement. Public and Tribal Trust philosophies and a commitment to pollution prevention, water conservation, public participation, multifunctional open space, polluter pays, and the precautionary principle will guide the Work Group’s activities.
Members:
Center for Community Action and Environmental Health; Institute for Socioeconomic Justice; Karuk Tribe; Parchester Village Neighborhood Center; People for Children's Health and Environmental Justice; Urban Semillas; West County Toxics Coalition; Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Contact Miriam Torres, miriam[at]ejwatercoalition.org for more information on this Work Group.
Legislation and Policy Work Group
The purpose of the Legislation and Policy Work Group is to advance the needs of environmental justice communities in California water policy and legislation. The WG not only brings the concerns and visions of communities struggling with water issues to the state legislative arena, but also forms a cohesive voice for water justice in water policy, management and legislation. The WG serves as a bridge between the exclusive world of Sacramento decision-makers and the grassroots, connecting residents with forums for public participation in water policy and legislation and responding directly to the water-related issues communities identify as priorities. The WG supports the involvement of community members in water policy and legislation and helps translate the needs of community groups into concrete policy and legislative agendas. The WG draws directly from EJCW’s other issue-based WGs to reflect the diversity of issues and communities that are a part of EJCW. The WG also consults with the other working groups and defines EJCW’s legislative and policy platform. This entails incorporating the wide variety of issues and communities EJCW works with into a series of solution-oriented policy and legislative recommendations.
Members:
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation; Center for Community Action and Environmental Health; Community Water Center; Clean Water Action; Latino Issues Forum; Self Help Enterprises; Southern California Watershed Alliance; Urban Semillas
Contact Debbie Davis, deborah.s.davis[at]gmail.com, for more information on this Work Group.
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Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Work Group
The Drinking Water Work Group of the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water works to ensure that all communities throughout California have access to safe, affordable and clean drinking water. Our work addresses the lack of language appropriate, effective and timely information on drinking water quality; the dilapidated state of drinking water and waste water infrastructure within communities; widespread groundwater contamination within California; chronic lack of accountability of water providers and agencies at both the local and the statewide level; the failure of the state water system to provide a low-income water subsidy and encourage water conservation; and the widespread but underreported health impacts from contaminated drinking water. We seek to engage communities in their local water governance and foster grassroots organizing to inform the creation of local and statewide policy initiatives that will help achieve the changes we seek.
Members:
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation; Clean Water Action; Comite Pro Uno; Committee for a Better Alpaugh; Community Water Center; Latino Issues Forum; Institute for Socioeconomic Justice; San Jerardo Co-operative.
Contact Amy Vanderwarker, amyv[at]ejwatercoalition.org, for more information on this Work Group.
Democratization Work Group
The purpose of the Democratization Working Group is to open and diversify the world of California water management and increase the number of communities and people who are able to make informed, sustainable, holistic decisions about local, regional, and statewide water policy. The WG will use two primary approaches to accomplish this: it will build capacity among environmental justice advocates, and address institutional barriers to community participation in California water policy. The WG will build a base of empowered water justice advocates around the state by developing multi-generational capacity and leadership among communities. This base will provide a pool of qualified people to fill positions of power and will hold leaders accountable. This entails developing strategies for leadership development and capacity-building, and grooming and supporting potential leaders. Simultaneously, the WG will generate strategies to address the policies, procedures and institutions that keep environmental justice leaders out of decision-making positions. It will identify key positions of power to fill with environmental justice leaders. This can include, but is not limited to, reforming land-owner based districts; opening up water boards; and ensuring basic public participation goals are met in water policy meetings.
Contact Debbie Davis, deborah.s.davis[at]gmail.com, for more information on this Work Group. |
