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Advocates press council to address drinking-water trust, affordability and premise plumbing
Summary
An environmental‑justice fellow and other commenters urged East Palo Alto to invest in water infrastructure, improve transparency about water safety, and pursue state revolving funds and community education to reduce reliance on bottled water.
At the April 22 public comment period, Eduardo Macias, an environmental‑justice fellow with Nosa Casa, urged the council to prioritize drinking‑water infrastructure, affordability and building‑level (‘premise’) plumbing fixes that affect renters.
"From Nosta Casa's research with Stanford, just in East Palo Alto water system, 65% of the participants did not believe their water is safe," Macias said. He added that mistrust leads many households to spend heavily on bottled water, and he recommended community education, inclusion in decision-making, and pursuing the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund as one avenue for funding.
Macias and other speakers asked that the city explicitly include investments to rebuild confidence in tap water—through outreach, facility tours and transparency about testing and repairs—so that ratepayers and low‑income households do not spend large shares of their income on bottled water. City staff acknowledged the priority and said water‑infrastructure projects are among the items tentatively placed in the public‑infrastructure bucket for the new work plan.
No immediate capital appropriation was made tonight. Staff said that water projects are on the carryover list and will be included in the prioritized list being taken to the community for feedback and then evaluated for budget and scheduling.
