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Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area Heather Cooley, Kristina Donnelly, Salote Soqo, and Colin Bailey June 2016 Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area June 2016 Lead Authors Heather Cooley, Pacific Institute Kristina Donnelly, Pacific Institute Salote Soqo, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Colin Bailey, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Contributing Authors Tameeka Bennett, Youth United for Community Action Brian Beveridge and Margaret Gordon, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Henry Clark, PhD, West County Toxics Coalition Whitney Dotson, North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance Marie Harrison and Bradley Angel, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice Douglas Mundo and Terrie Green, Shore Up Marin Sherri Norris and Lauren Hughes, California Indian Environmental Alliance Charles Taylor, Alviso Water Collaborative ISBN-13: 978-1-893790-73-5 © 2016 Pacific Institute. All rights reserved. Pacific Institute 654 13th Street, Preservation Park Oakland, California 94612 Phone: 510.251.1600 | Facsimile: 510.251.2203 www.pacinst.org Cover photo: Marilyn Nieves Designer: Bryan Kring, Kring Design Studio Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area I ABOUT THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE The Pacific Institute envisions a world in which society, the economy, and the environment have the water they need to thrive now and in the future. In pursuit of this vision, the Institute creates and advances solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges, such as unsustainable water management and use; climate change; environmental degradation; food, fiber, and energy production; and basic lack of access to fresh water and sanitation. Since 1987, the Pacific Institute has cut across traditional areas of study and actively collaborated with a diverse set of stakeholders, including leading policymakers, scientists, corporate leaders, international organizations such as the United Nations, advocacy groups, and local communities. This interdisciplinary and independent approach helps bring diverse groups together to forge effective real-world solutions. More information about the Pacific Institute and its staff, board of directors, and programs can be found at www.pacinst.org. ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COALITION FOR WATER The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW) works within a Community-to-Capitol framework, connecting the most pressing needs of our disadvantaged community partners to our network of partners and agencies statewide. EJCW’s work is rooted in the communities most affected by environmental injustice. Issues and solutions are identified through regional chapters and statewide work groups. EJCW is positioned in the state capital, in order to connect communities with state agencies to bring about change multilaterally through advocacy, education, training, litigation, community organizing, and capacity-building, and by providing technical assistance. EJCW aims to effectively influence the intersections of water justice and environmental justice, community health, and human rights issues from community to global levels. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our Project Advisory Committee members, who generously reviewed and shared their insights on the research and results from this project: Bradley Angel (Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice), Tameeka Bennett (Youth United for Community Action), Brian Beveridge (West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project), Henry Clark, PhD (West County Toxics Coalition), Whitney Dotson (North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance), Margaret Gordon (West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project), Terrie Green (Shore Up Marin), Marie Harrison (Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice), Lauren Hughes (California Indian Environmental Alliance), Douglas Mundo (Shore Up Marin), Sherri Norris (California Indian Environmental Alliance), and Charles Taylor (Alviso Water Collaborative). This work was supported by a grant from the San Francisco Foundation. We thank it for its support. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the San Francisco Foundation. Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area II Contents About the Pacific Institute .........................................................................................................................I About the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water ........................................................................I Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................I Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Study Approach .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Background on Water Systems in the San Francisco Bay Area ....................................................... 3 Key Issues and Concerns .......................................................................................................................... 6 Water Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................. 6 Water Affordability................................................................................................................................... 7 Inequitable Water Use ............................................................................................................................. 7 Defining Equity in a Drought ................................................................................................................7 Solutions ...................................................................................................................................................8 Water Rates .......................................................................................................................................9 Billing Practices ..................................................................................................................................9 Financial Assistance Programs ............................................................................................................9 Reducing Household Water Use ......................................................................................................11 Communication and Outreach Strategies ..........................................................................................11 Stakeholder Engagement in Decision-making ..................................................................................12 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................... 13 References .................................................................................................................................................. 14 Appendix 1: Poject Advisory Committee members ......................................................................... 16 FIGURES Figure 1. Urban and residential water use, in acre-feet, in the San Francisco Bay region, 1986-2014. ......................... 5 Figure 2. Urban and residential per capita water use, in gallons per person per day, in the San Francisco Bay region, 1986-2014. ................................................................................................... 5 Figure 3. Graphical depiction of equality verses equity. .......................................................................................... 7 TABLES Table 1. Project Advisory Committee members. ...................................................................................................... 2 Drought and Equity in the San Francisco Bay Area 1 INTRODUCTION alifornia is now in the fifth year the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible of a drought of extreme proportions. water adequate for human consumption, cooking, CCumulative precipitation between 2011 and sanitary purposes. While the focus of this and 2014 was a record low of 40 inches, compared effort was on drought in the San Francisco Bay to a historical average of 70 inches (CNAP 2014). Area, the approach and findings can be applied to Precipitation in late 2015 and early 2016 brought urbanized areas everywhere. welcome relief, but it was not enough to offset the four-year deficit. Dry conditions have been exacerbated by high temperatures. Calendar years STUDY APPROACH 2014 and 2015 were the hottest and second-hottest This effort followed a community-based partic- years, respectively, on record. ipatory research (CBPR) model. While there are multiple definitions of CBPR, one used by the W.K. The drought is having far-reaching effects, Kellogg Foundation Community Health Schol- including on the state’s agricultural sector, ars Program is among the most commonly cited, ecosystems, and urban areas. A key area of concern defining CBPR as: —but one that has received little attention— “A collaborative approach to research that is how the drought is affecting low-income equitably involves all partners in the research communities. To address this gap, the Pacific process and recognizes the unique strengths that Institute and the Environmental Justice Coalition each brings. CBPR begins with
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