The Human Right to Water Affirmed in California

Congratulations, staff of the Community Water Center! You have worked long and hard to win yesterday's victory, when California Governor Brown signed the Human Right to Water Bill, AB 685 (see AB 685 with recent markups), introducing into the Water Code this language:

"It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes."

This could be an important leverage point for rural and unincorporated communities as California warms and becomes more arid.

Before now domestic use of water was prioritized in California water policy; however, that included all domestic use, including watering lawns and filling swimming pools.

In 2011 Governor Brown signed other legislation recommended as part of a Human Right to Water Bill Package:

• AB 983, the Access to Safe Drinking Water Act, to better serve communities lacking safe, affordable water;
• AB 938, about public water systems;
• AB 1221, about the State Water Quality Control Fund and the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account; 
• SB 244, about local government, land use, general plans, and disadvantaged unincorporated communities

California's Adaptation Planning Guide Officially Out!

The announcement just hit my inbox-- the California Adaptation Planning Guide (nee Policy Guide) has been officially released! The announcement text:

The California Climate Adaptation Planning Guide (APG) has been finalized and is now available to the public through the California Natural Resources Agency website.  The APG, developed through a partnership between the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Emergency Management Agency, with technical support from California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides guidance to support regional and local communities in addressing the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

As a member of the APG Advisory Committee, I have been eager to see this finished and released. This is apparently the very first adaptation guidance funded by U.S. FEMA. If it proves useful, hopefully other states will apply and get funded to do the same.

Congratulations to everyone at Cal-EMA, Natural Resources and Cal Poly who worked hard on this for the past year.