SECTION 1.
The Legislature declares all the following:
(a)Water quality pollution is disproportionately affecting communities that are part of the environmental justice system. CalEnviroScreen’s California Communities Environmental Health Screening mapping tool identifies communities most adversely affected by a combination environmental stressors and socioeconomic disadvantages. The 2021 update of the tools shows that 67 per cent of the least polluted communities are White, while 90 per cent of the most polluted are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Low-income, Black, Indigenous, or people of color communities are most affected by contaminated drinking water sources.
California’s persistent inequalities are further exacerbated by data from the Human Right to Water Framework, Data Tool 1.0, and other sources, such as California Data Tool 1.0.
(b) The 2021 Pollution and Prejudice storymap from the California Environmental Protection Agency, CalEPA, shows that historically redlined areas are more likely to have worse environmental conditions and be more vulnerable to the effects of pollution. People of color are highly represented in the most environmentally degraded neighborhoods, which still suffer from severe racial wealth gapes due to redlining and other forms of land-use that oppress them. Many of these communities lack access or green infrastructure, such as parks, open spaces, greenways and green infrastructure that can provide natural flood protection, water treatment and groundwater replenishment.
(c) The State Water Resources Control Board released in 2021 the 2021 Drinking Water Needs Assessment. It identified approximately 345 water system that do not meet the human right of water. The needs assessment also identified 617 at-risk state water systems, 611 small water systems at risk, and 80,000 domestic wells at high risk. It also identified 13 federally controlled tribal water systems that had not met the goals for the human right of water and 22 at risk tribal water system.
(d) The boards programs were originally established in a structure that perpetuated inequalities on the basis of race. These inequalities persist, and the boards should address the role of racism in creating inequalities in access to safe and affordable water as well as in the allocation and protection water resources.
(e) In California, race determines a person’s access to government services as well as the quality and affordability of those services. This includes safe drinking water as well as the treatment, collection, and reuse of wastewater. Race is the strongest predictor for water and sanitation access.
(f)Race is strongly correlated to more severe pollution burdens on a local scale. However, the policies, plans, and programs of the water boards have not explicitly addressed or considered racial disparities. The State Water Resources Control Board, as a government agency recognizes the need for racial equality and to take steps to address it within the agency and in the programs that the regional water quality control board boards implement for the communities they serve.
(g)The regional water supply has improved over the past decade.
Quality control boards have emphasized environmental justices more frequently. They have created the Safe and Affordable Financial for Equity and Resilience Program (SAFER), which is a comprehensive approach to implementing California’s commitment to the human rights to water. It ensures that Californians with contaminated drinking water are provided safe drinking water solutions.
(h) Regional water quality control boards recognize that there is a need to continue.
Address environmental injustice and racial inequality. Regional water quality control boards must address the link between water resources protection and institutional racism. They also need to foster greater diversity and equity within their workforce.
(i) The state is committed to protecting public health and the beneficial uses of waterbodies within all communities, especially in Black, Indigenous and people of color communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution. This includes cleanup of contaminated soil, groundwater, and soil vapor; control of wastes released to land and surface water; restoration and improvement of impaired surface waters, degraded aquifers, and promotion of multibenefit water quality project to increase access to green spaces, parks, greenways, and other green infrastructure.
