Fighting for the water that sustains us

The author argues that environmental racism and a decline in federal funding since the 1970s have created severe disparities in water access for Latino, Black, and Indigenous communities in the US. The text highlights the vulnerability of these populations to climate-driven disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires, and calls for Congress to implement water affordability protections, prohibit shutoffs, and invest in green infrastructure and wastewater system repairs, prioritizing areas like the San Joaquin Valley, Puerto Rico, and the Navajo Nation.

• The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) recommends that Congress pass legislation to prohibit water shutoffs, mandate reconnections, and establish water affordability protections for low-income communities during emergencies.
• Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events that disproportionately affect communities of color, including Hurricane Laura on the Louisiana coast and wildfires impacting Latino farmworkers in Oregon and California's wine country.
• There are significant racial disparities in plumbing access; Latino households are nearly twice as likely as white households to lack complete plumbing, and Native American and Indigenous households are 19 times as likely.
• Water affordability has declined for millions of families due to a reduction in federal funding for water systems that began in the 1970s.
• The NHLA urges Congress to prioritize federal funding for the repair of aging wastewater systems and infrastructure investments in specific areas, including Puerto Rico, Las Colonias, rural Black communities, and the Navajo Nation.

APA

Cervantes, M. D. V. P. (2020). Fighting for the water that sustains us. GreenLatinos. https://www.greenlatinos.org/fighting-for-the-water-that-sustains-us/

Chicago

Cervantes, Mariana Del Valle Prieto. Fighting for the water that sustains us. GreenLatinos, 2020. https://www.greenlatinos.org/fighting-for-the-water-that-sustains-us/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Cervantes |first1=Mariana Del Valle Prieto |title=Fighting for the water that sustains us |publisher=GreenLatinos |date=3 November 2020 |url=https://www.greenlatinos.org/fighting-for-the-water-that-sustains-us/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{cervantes2020fighting, author = {Cervantes, Mariana Del Valle Prieto}, title = {{Fighting for the water that sustains us}}, publisher = {GreenLatinos}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.greenlatinos.org/fighting-for-the-water-that-sustains-us/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }