Californians still want clean, safe water a decade after state declared it a human right

Zenaida Montes calls the water at home “pure sickness.” Like many others who live in Fresno, she can’t drink it and regularly pays for bottled water instead.

“All the water in Fresno, it’s really bad,” Montes said in Spanish. “[I have to] buy gallons of water to make food, for everything.”

It’s so contaminated, she says, that it even leaves her clothes feeling dirty after a wash.

Montes was one of the few dozen people who arrived in Sacramento on Thursday morning, rallying at the Capitol building to demand that lawmakers take action to ensure better access to clean water for all Californians.

Their demands varied, focused at times on passing particular pieces of legislation and devoting more of the state budget to water accessibility.

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