SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement regarding the State Water Resources Control Board vote to curtail water in the Central Valley:
 

“The theft of water that propels the Board to order curtailments, will no doubt deprive our most vulnerable communities of clean water and jobs, but it will also deprive an already constrained global food system,” said Senator Hurtado. “The California Water Board must do better to prioritize human security which incorporates the human right to water and the human right to food. Depriving communities of those fundamental rights is a violation of those rights.”
 

Senator Hurtado sent a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board urging them to consider the impacts that this decision would have on the Central Valley, last week. The emergency water curtailment would cut vital water supplies to California farms that have already been forced to comply with reduced allocations in response to California’s worsening drought. Due to limited water, some farmers have chosen to fallow large segments of their farmland. Fallowed land means less food for the State, Nation and globe, along with increases in food prices and decreases in the availability of produce.

This legislative session, Senator Hurtado has introduced SB 108, which will declare it to be state policy that all people have access to sufficient, healthy food. She’s also introduced Senate Bill 464, which will expand the eligibility for state funded food benefits to undocumented immigrants, ensuring all residents can access food assistance.  

Senator Hurtado introduced SB 559--the State Water Resiliency Act of 2021---which creates a blueprint for fully funding the repair of vital water delivery systems that provide drinking water to communities throughout California and water to sustain the state’s leading agricultural economy. The funds would go to fixing the Friant-Kern Canal, the Delta-Mendota Canal and major portions of the California Aqueduct, all of which have degraded and are losing water as a result of subsidence – the actual shrinking of land.

Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@Sen.Ca.Gov

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

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