Page 70 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

California's Water Crisis Hits Farmworkers Hardest as Maps Call Attention In California's Central Valley, where one-fourth of the nation's food is grown, many residents cannot drink or cook using the water that flows from their faucets. Several of the region's small agricultural communities deal with dried-up wells, defective underground pipes, and water contaminated with bacteria or nitrates from fertilizer runoff. Families, some already facing poverty levels, must often pay for bottled water on top of their monthly water bills and, in some cases, struggle to find ample supply in their local grocery store. Although a 2012 state law mandates safe, available water for all residents, more than one million Californians lack access to clean water—many centered in low-income and Hispanic/ Latinx communities, according to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. "A lot of times, when we're meeting the community, we're going to somebody's home and seeing how they're living," said Denise England, director of Water Resources for the County of Tulare. "Through the drought, we got a quick education and experiences of conditions that, in 2016 California, you couldn't believe." 69