California Leaders Arrive Inland Friday To Beleaguered Desert Water Facilities, Salton Sea

COACHELLA (CNS) - Falling in line with Governor Newsom's clean water
agenda outlined in the State of the State, a desert assemblyman will host state
leaders today (Friday) on a tour that highlights safe drinking water disparities facing
local schools and mobile home communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley.
   Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, will host state leaders --
including newly appointed Chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board
Joaquin Esquivel and billionaire President of the environmental advocacy group
NextGen America Tom Steyer -- for a tour of the Eastern Coachella Valley water
facilities, according to a statement from the assemblyman.
   The tour was built around what Governor Gavin Newsom called the
``moral disgrace and medical emergency'' of unsafe drinking during his State of
the State last month.
   ``Just this morning, more than a million Californians woke up without
clean water to bathe in or drink,'' Newsom said. ``Some schools have shut down
drinking fountains due to contamination... [And,] There are literally hundreds
of water systems across the state contaminated by lead, arsenic, or uranium.''
   The Eastern Coachella Valley has long struggled with poor water
quality for underprivileged communities, according to the UC Davis Center for
Regional Change 2018 report, ``Revealing the Invisible Coachella Valley.'' The
report pointed out the unique environmental issues facing Eastern Coachella
Valley residents, including from failing water infrastructure, unauthorized
dumping and concentrated hazardous waste.
   In recent years, legislation was enacted to provide emergency funds
for water filtration systems and restitution charges for residents endangered
by the failing water infrastructure, according to the report. The report
specifically notes the most vulnerable communities are residents of mobile home
parks ``with failing septic systems [that] face health risks from contact with
raw sewage'' and desert dwellers who rely on private well water contaminated
with arsenic, lead and nitrates.
   The report also noted that the Eastern Coachella Valley has multiple
hazardous water treatment storage and disposal facilities next to schools and
homes.
   In addition to the more direct dangers of the failing water system,
the environmental crisis at the Salton Sea shot to national prominence last
week as several states signed the Drought Contingency Plan, a multi-state
agreement water conservation deal. The controversy centered around a desert
water agency -- the Imperial Irrigation District -- as it was excluded from the
DCP for refusal to sign the deal citing a mounting public health crisis at the
Salton Sea.
   ``The declining Salton Sea presents a severe public health and
environmental crisis,'' IID's Robert Schettler said. ``This is really about
protecting the backyard here... Our area in the Imperial Valley is one of the
poorest in the state. You know, the lowest average median income and the
highest asthma rate, and we're trying to protect those people.''
   Nearly 650,000 people are affected by poor air quality in the area,
according to a report from the Pacific Institute.
   Asthma risks increase for underprivileged communities as fine dust
leaches into the air from the Salton Sea's receding shoreline, according to
Pacific Institute. More than 100 tons of dust per day could be released into
the air by 2045 if the shorelines are allowed to recede at the current rate,
the institute reported.
   Initially, all agencies that receive water from the Colorado River --
IID is the largest single water user -- should have signed it in order for the
deal to be approved. But, the DCP was approved without the IID after the
Colorado River Board voted to exclude the desert water agency in an 8-to-1 vote
on March 18. The DCP was signed by multiple representatives from a collection
of states and water agencies the next day.
   Garcia will welcome leaders starting at 10 a.m. at the Coachella
Public Library, 1500 6th St. with the bus tour departing at 11 a.m., according
to Garcia's spokeswoman Aurora Saldivar. The six-hour tour will include
Westside Elementary, several mobile home communities in Thermal, as well as the
Salton Sea.