Human Right
to Water

Climate change and the escalation of its impacts threaten us all.

Safe, affordable, accessible water is a human right. In California, currently more than 1 million Californians do not have safe drinking water. This is an urgent rural and urban issue of environmental justice. Hundreds of towns and cities—many with low-income populations and communities of color—face daily risk for all aspects of their lives from health and housing to employment and longevity. In Washington, many water sources have high levels of arsenic, lead and mercury. Civic engagement educates, empowers, organizes community action in support of the human right to water.

Why Civic Engagement for the Human Right to Water is important:

• No family or household should have to pay for water they cannot drink or safely use for bathing. Daily accessible, affordable potable water is a necessity for sustaining life.
• Privatizing water limits access to safe water.
• Communities are strengthened when water injustices are identified and solved locally, statewide and nationally.

The need is urgent right now. Millions of Americans do not have safe drinking water in their homes and communities. For more information and to learn what you can do, visit: ecology.wa.gov/About-us/Get-to-know-us/Our-Programs/ Water-Quality