2. I live in the Los Penasquitos Watershed.
3. My drinking water comes from Tecolote Creek.
4. My waste water end up in Mission Bay.
Q: "As stressed in the Special Rapporteur’s investigation the U.S. government should focus on the process and not just the outcome of the right to safe drinking water and sanitation by targeting obligations to respect, protect and fulfill. This helps to prioritize accountability and reduce gray areas where vulnerable populations are denied rights."
C: The supposed mistreatment of marginalized groups in access to clean water is, without a doubt, an important issue, more so given the amount of potable water that we have. The reckless waste of our water has left many less fortunate sections of the population hung out to dry (literally and figuratively). However, it seems the severity of the situation itself was not enough to spur the government to action.
C: Many times, it seems, the American government feels content to discuss the idea and its hypothetical benefits, but spend no time on considering how to make such an idea a reality, especially on vital subjects such as the right of all human beings to clean, potable water.
Q: If nothing else, what would force the government to consider this issue more closely?
Q: "The right to safe drinking water requires communities and governments to think of water as
more than just a physical object and to consider the social, ecological and political relationships that underscore the availability, access and affordability of the resource."
C: Irresponsible use of water, both on the private and public ends, has contributed to this drought. It requires work and change from all parties to undo.
C: It seems that people often fail to appreciate the full importance of a resource when it is readily accessible for so long. They lose sight of the importance of such things as water, food, and oil as ecological, economic and political elements. These things are the cornerstones of life, and in order to recognize their full worth, one need only look to a nation of starvation or drought or poverty.
Q: What can be done to awaken communities to the importance of available water, especially those who are fortunate enough to find themselves unaffected by drought?
Q:"Access to affordable water is inadequate on many Native American reservations. Reservation residents often use the least amount of water in a given region, work the hardest to get it and pay the most to use it. In some places, the sanitation situation resembles that of low-income rural areas during the early 20th century."
C: The report goes on to detail how many Native Americans have to spend two hours a day hauling water back to their homes. I can only imagine the added ecological effects of driving all the way to a dispenser of potable water and back every day, never mind the conditions they are forced to endure without proper sanitation systems.
C: The alienation and mistreatment of the Native American population continues to this day, but today, it is based not on intimidation, but inaction and hesitance. It is not the blatant stripping of their homes and basic human dignity, but the denial of the most vital resource for human life. History echoes, and though it becomes less overt, it becomes no less cruel.
Q: How have the conditions of irrigation on reservation land been allowed to devolve to such a deplorable state?
Q: "A better understanding of the current use and availability of water resources is necessary for the U.S. government to meet its obligation to fulfill and protect this human right. Data and information about water supply should be widely available, should integrate the physical and social sciences, and should be relevant to all parties, from the individual homeowner to regional water managers."
C: Lack of awareness appears to be a key factor in this issue. More available data on water expenditure would go a long way to convince people of severity of this shortage.
C: The consideration of all parties in legislature is often hard to achieve. When it comes to the distribution of a finite resource, even one that is considered a basic human necessity and right, more often than not, someone will be left out of the deal.
Q: How does this information become more available? How do we turn it from overlooked footnote to common knowledge in order to spark change?
