From the ‘Human Right To Water’ to Long-Term Water Sustainability By Mike Eng SGVMWD Board Member
thrilled at the international attention paid to this issue. Today, to keep our human right to water promise fulfilled, the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District is focused on California’s water future and the long-term sustainability of imported water. The SGVMWD supports the Delta Conveyance Project, which would build a tunnel under the Delta to improve supply reliability. In November 2020, the SGVMWD board approved the use of $2.68 million to assist with environmental planning for the Delta Conveyance Project. And, in October 2024, the Board unanimously approved $2.37 million to support pre- construction work for the Delta Conveyance Project. The SGVMWD also supports Pure Water Southern California, a regional water recycling project by developed by Metropolitan and the L.A. County Sanitation Districts, that would purify and reuse cleaned wastewater that currently flows into the ocean, producing 150 million gallons of purified water daily and providing a new, climate-resilient supply of locally available water. We need these projects for a secure water future. Lastly, I hope to encourage young people and students to become interested in water issues and carry on this important work in the future. How do we get young people to be excited about water? We have to reach out. Our district does a lot of work with local schools. We fund conservation programs to help young people evaluate things like drought tolerant plants. We give many grants to school districts to work on student projects so they can learn and take their water saving ideas home to their families. There is a need for young people to get involved and our water district remains devoted to this essential effort. Mike Eng is a board member of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and represents the city of Monterey Park. Previously, Director Eng served in the California State Assembly representing cities in the San Gabriel Valley. He authored the “Human Right to Water” legislation and AB153 which brought millions of dollars to the San Gabriel Valley to clean polluted groundwater, and worked on legislation leading to the 2009 State Water Bond. Director Eng also served as Mayor and Councilmember for the City of Monterey Park and helped lead the efforts to clean the city’s drinking water from the perchlorate pollutant. He started the region’s first Environmental Commission to address long-term environmental issues. He was also elected to the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District. Director Eng has been a San Gabriel Valley resident for over 35 years with his wife, U.S. Representative Judy Chu.
O ver a dozen years ago, when I was a member of the California Legislature, I championed a bill that would make clean water a right for all Californians. My interest in writing Assembly Bill 685 – which passed in 2012 – grew after I had learned from water advocates that residents in disadvantaged communities in California were buying clean water at
supermarkets and convenience stores each morning to take home because their tap water was brown and dirty. This was not right, especially considering the families were also paying for their unclean water at home. Around the same time, the United Nations was conducting a survey of water around the world with the idea that clean water should be a human right. I thought, “Let’s start here with California.” Despite initial opposition from water agencies fearing litigation, my bill became law in 2012. On Sept. 25, 2012, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Assembly Bill (AB) 685, making California the first state in the nation to legislatively recognize the human right to water. The law says, “It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.” It turned out the United Nations declared my bill to be one of the most significant bills for that year. I couldn’t have been more
The San Gabriel River cuts through the mountains into the canyon spreading grounds.
18 | Earthday 2025
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