Organizations & Network — West

 
Community Water Center
Visalia, CA
Susana De Anda ()
661-586-2611

Mission Statement
The Community Water Center acts as a catalyst for community water solutions through organizing, education and advocacy in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

Main Issue
Groundwater in the Central Valley remains the most polluted in the state, due to decades of intensive fertilizer and pesticide application, as well as the massive influx of animal factories to the region. Because the polluting industries are the basis for the local economy, there has been little political will to address the contamination. Poor communities of color have born the brunt of this inaction by suffering from widespread drinking water contamination and dilapidated water infrastructure. Only through a strategic, grassroots approach, originating in the Central Valley itself, can this (thus far intractable) problem begin to be addressed systemically.