The Human Right to Water in California

January 28, 2021

Image of a faucet The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) announces the release of its final Human Right to Water Framework and Data Tool (CalHRTW 1.0)—comprised of an interactive web tool and report, Achieving the Human Right to Water in California: An Assessment of the State’s Community Water Systems.

In developing the Human Right to Water Framework and Data Tool, California becomes the first state in the country to develop a tool for measuring the progressive realization of the human right to water. This tool alongside other key statewide efforts signals California’s leadership and commitment in providing safe, affordable and accessible water to all.

Background

Framework overview: Water Quality, Water Accessibility, and Water Affordability California faces many challenges in providing clean, safe and affordable drinking water to all of its citizens, including low-income and minority communities. Nearly one million Californians lack access to clean water, and climate change is exacerbating problems with water quality, availability and affordability.

Since 2012, California law (Assembly Bill 685) has declared that every person in the state has a right to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water. In 2019, Gov. Newsom signed SB 200 to provide funding to achieve the goal to “provide safe drinking water in every California community, for every Californian.”

To monitor progress in achieving the human right to water, and as part of its commitment to ensure that all Californians have access to adequate drinking water, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the State Water Resources Control Board enlisted OEHHA to develop a framework and data tool to assess the status of water quality, accessibility and affordability across the state.

CalHRTW measures nine indicators and three composite scores for drinking water quality, accessibility and affordability provided by the state’s community water systems. The web tool allows Californians to see indicator and component scores for their water system or any other community water system. When updated periodically over time, the tool can track changes in these three areas, examine social equity implications and be expanded to include sanitation, as well as other types of water systems and communities.

CalHRTW 1.0 Report and Data Tool

CalHRTW 1.0’s final report presents a baseline assessment that evaluates the degree to which individual water systems deliver clean, safe, affordable and reliable water to their customers. The report builds on the previously released conceptual report, A Framework and Tool for Evaluating California’s Progress in Achieving the Human Right to Water. It also builds on an earlier draft report and web tool that included preliminary results, Achieving the Human Right to Water in California: An Assessment of the State’s Community Water Systems, and associated public comment received on these 2019 reports. CalHRTW 1.0 focuses on baseline drinking water conditions of community water systems, but with periodic updates future versions of CalHRTW could include tribal systems, domestic wells, smaller water systems, and sanitation.