Policy Principles
Direct Water Suppliers to Prepare and Implement Long-Term Infrastructure Plans
- Water does not discriminate based on income levels—all people should have access to safe, clean drinking water regardless of their financial standing.
- Quality and safety of water should never be sacrificed, even in the name of affordability.
- When someone turns on their faucet, that water should meet all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.
- Water providers should work tirelessly to ensure their systems are resilient to major natural disasters and climate change, and also to meet the day-to-day needs of their customers.
- Investing in water infrastructure to enhance and strengthen system reliability directly helps ensure that water providers can deliver the safest, highest quality water to their customers.
- Reliable clean drinking water should be there when customers need it and should be affordable, not come at a premium.
ACTION:
Cal Water believes every water supplier should be required to prepare and implement long-term infrastructure improvement plans to ensure the drinking water they provide is safe and they do not face catastrophic failures like those recently seen in communities like Jackson, Mississippi. Preventing such failures is ultimately a means to keep water affordable because water that is unsafe to drink is not affordable at any price.