To: 

Radhika Fox, Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency

House and Senate Leadership

Senate Members of the EPW Committee

House Members of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

From: Water Equity and Climate Resilience (WECR) Caucus

Call for Urgent Action -- Address  the Nation’s Water Threats on World Water Day by Centering Racial Equity and Environmental Justice

The undersigned organizations stand ready to work with the Biden Administration EPA Office of Water, House and Senate Leadership, and EPW and T&I Committees to ensure that rulemaking, legislative engagement, and program implementation address the water and climate threats facing our communities. By incorporating the wisdom and voice of impacted environmental justice community members, and being informed by their community challenges and recommended policy solutions, climate-safe and water-safe futures can be realized. 

We must launch an effort to close the national safe water access gap in America. To address urban, suburban, tribal and rural waters risks, we need to make investments to protect the health and future of our children and communities by addressing drinking water needs and preventing exposure to hazardous toxic chemicals including PFAS, PFOA, lead, arsenic and uranium. Children in low-income families, residents of older homes, and Black, Indigenous and farmworker communities are significantly more likely to lack access to adequate, safe and reliable water. To advance safe water for children and communities across America, the EPA should form an interagency water partnership with USDA, DOI and HHS to ensure safe drinking water and climate resilience across tribal, urban, suburban and rural communities.

We call upon you and will work with you to ensure that new resources are allocated through Congress and targeted to environmental justice and socially vulnerable communities--those who have been most impacted by COVID-19 and those most impacted by water threats of unsafe water, unaffordable water, water shutoffs, and climate driven flooding, drought and sea level rise. 

The WECR Caucus calls for the following actions that will deliver on the Executive Orders signed by President Biden to address racial equity, environmental justice, and climate resilience:

• Create a new national water affordability program fund at US EPA which provides a safety net to those who face water burdens and establishes universal access to safe and affordable water.
• Establish a Water Equity Task Force to conduct assessments to inform safe water funding as part of our nation’s public health response to COVID-19.  
• Direct resources to the most impacted communities in any and all water initiatives.
• Prioritize investments in climate resilient water systems and infrastructure for BIPOC communities’ preparation, safety and recovery from climate-driven water threats.
• Improve EPA tribal consultation practices established by EO 13175 (2000) and standards to align with international standards of Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Tribal communities want more flexibility to restore Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practices for landscape-scale development, particularly as it relates to watershed and subwatershed cleanup, reclamation, restoration and protection.
• Revoke permits for the Dakota Access and Enbridge Line 3 Pipelines to reduce fossil fuel climate harms and protect sacred water sources. 
• Structure equitable workforce & procurement opportunities for BIPOC and Environmental  Justice communities in the water infrastructure and climate resilience sectors.
• Make water data transparent, timely and relevant by assessing water debt, water shutoffs, increasing costs to users and utilities, water quality, and water violations; and establish the right to data transparency. 

We stand ready to pursue these opportunities for meaningful collaboration and results for our communities.

Sincerely,