Indigenous, communities of color shape top 6 actions to bring water justice
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Martin Heinrich recently introduced the WASH Sector Development Act to expand access to safe sanitation and clean drinking water for rural and underserved communities. The crisis in Flint, Michigan, Warm Springs, Oregon, the Navajo Nation, the Colorado River and Louisiana have shown that these water justice issues are common in the U.S. The Oregon Water Futures Collaborative contributes locally to these federal efforts and state initiatives.
After talking about water with predominantly low-income, rural, communities of color in 2020 and seeing $530 million allocated to water infrastructure in Oregon in 2021, OWF continued in 2022 to deepen our understanding of water justice. These communities have been underserved and underrepresented in federal and state decision-making processes and often experience physical, emotional, economic and spiritual health challenges related to water issues. As water actors and community assets — not merely consumers — they offer creative solutions to the challenges the nation faces.
Building on the experiences of approximately 200 community members and feedback from tribal governments, researchers, state agencies, utilities and environmental organizations, we identified the following six water-justice concerns requiring our attention now:
Support for Indigenous water justice leadership
Indigenous water justice leadership requires centering Indigenous traditional ecological and fire practices to keep waters clean and cool for fish and plant life, engaging Indigenous immigrant communities and including tribes not yet federally recognized in water stewardship and disaster relief funding. In Oregon, a Tribal Water Task Force with direct impact on decision making is essential.
Renter’s rights
Renters are vulnerable, especially mobile home park tenants, farmworkers and undocumented immigrants. Renters must receive information about water quality, consumption, source, bills and emergencies. They need access to bill-pay assistance and to be able to use water for medicinal and food plants at home and in community gardens.
Water access and affordability
We need water bill assistance programs, no domestic shut-off practices that forgive debt, support for utilities’ infrastructure upgrades to avoid water bill increases and rainwater harvesting and other water conservation practices.
Natural and built infrastructures
Funding for the long-term health of ecosystems must be a priority, as well as funds to repair and replace wells and septic systems accessible for communities of color and low-income communities and renters, resources for well water testing and accounting for water in decision making about urban growth.
Emergency preparedness
We need public education on emergency preparation and response and access to transportation, food and funding during evacuations. Disaster relief must be accessible. Droughts must receive the same kind of investments as wildfire or flooding recovery.
Community empowerment
Tribes, tribal organizations and CBOs serving communities of color must have funding for: education about emergency response and water law and policy, advocacy, water stewardship and conservation, environmental workforce development and to partner with one another and agencies. Water education in schools empowers children and families.
Federal and state agencies must provide technical, policy and legal assistance to these efforts, invest in specialists who can work with underserved populations and provide non-jargon filled information in multilingual and multimedia formats.
These are some lessons learned from community members. We cannot wait to share more and work together to ensure water justice in Oregon and elsewhere.
Alai Reyes-Santos writes a regular column for The Register-Guard. Lynny Brown of Willamette Partnership and Taren Evans of Coalition of Communities of Color are members of the coordination team of the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Indigenous communities guide top actions for water justice in Oregon
