Recent studies indicate many people in California are exposed to unsafe drinking water. This project responds to CA’s drinking water crisis through community-engaged research. This project considers the following categories: levels of contestation in water-related board membership elections; water-related board membership vacancies; demographics of water-related board membership, including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, and gender; length of service to a northern San Joaquin Valley water-related board. The first objective developed a collaborative study to contextualize debates around clean water in the San Joaquin Valley’s Latinx and low-income rural communities. The second objective endeavored to open a discussion on how power operates in relation to California’s water crisis and water-related special districts. This is the final phase of a two-year project. Data gathered in year-one aided in the development of a comic book to inform San Joaquin Valley residents about CA’s drinking water crisis, the role of water-related special districts in addressing the drinking water crisis, and how community members can address the crisis through water-related special districts. This project was initially funded in the first year of the grant and was chosen to be renewed.
Luce Fellow:
