-
The International Challenge of World Water Day—March 22nd!
Continue readingAs Clean Water for NC and all of our members and allies continue to work for Safe, Affordable Water for All in our state, it’s crucial to keep in mind that much of the world lacks the water and wastewater management that we’ve MOSTLY been able to take for granted in the US. The theme of this year’s United Nations World Water Day is “Valuing Water,” calling on individuals and nations to assess the complex multiple values water holds in our lives, health, culture and economies and making decisions to protect, restore and manage it accordingly.
A strong focus of this year’s celebration is achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by the UN’s target date of 2030. The SDG’s are all very ambitious, including eliminating poverty in all of its forms by 2030 (SDG #1), but they are all rooted in achieving long overdue justice for all of Earth’s people. While the extreme impact of Covid-19 on health, economies and even culture has pushed us all further back on many of these goals, now is the time to recommit to the shared work and increasing funding to achieve them!
-
Celebrating the History of Black Communities and their Fight for Justice in NC
Continue readingClean Water for North Carolina celebrates the achievements and efforts of communities that continue the fight for justice, equality, and healthy, safe environments to call home. In North Carolina, Black communities have a long history of resilience and activism. The following descriptions, while not comprehensive, offer a brief look into this history and the people, places, and groups that have made a difference.
Princeville, NC was incorporated in 1885 and stands as the oldest town incorporated by Black Americans in the United States, though its place as a community predates that. It was originally known as Freedom Hill and became home to many recently freed Black Americans who struggled in the early stages of segregation and Jim Crow to find a place to live without facing violence in 1865. Sitting on the Tar River south of Tarboro, the land the community had been restricted to was swampy, and residents faced major flooding since its founding. Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 hit the community hard, and with the support of many organizations and departments, the Princeville Task Force was created to rebuild the town to be more resistant to flooding while continuing to honor its history.
-
Thank YOU for Supporting Our Work to Protect Drinking Water for Everyone!
Continue readingOur Water Justice Campaign organizes customers of private, for-profit water utilities like Aqua NC and Carolina Water Service, to hold these corporations accountable for poor water quality, astronomical rates, and inadequate customer service practices.
As customers of corporate for-profit water companies, these community members have no say about how these corporations are run, but through grassroots organizing in their communities for action at the NC Utilities Commission, we continue to make sure their voices are heard! Recent victories include the NC Utilities Commissioners ordering Aqua NC to improve their customer service practices and fix water quality issues relating to iron and manganese contamination, which causes discolored and putrid smelling water. We continue to work with these water customers to truly hold these corporations accountable and keep them from raising rates until they deal with the myriad of drinking water concerns customers continue to face…
-
REPORT: “Bird’s-eye View – Impacts of NC Poultry Production on People and the Environment”
Continue readingPoultry rules the roost in North Carolina. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, poultry farming is now North Carolina’s #1 agricultural commodity, and with that rise to the top […]
-
Urge Tillis, Burr to Protect All North Carolinians in COVID Relief Package
Continue readingPeople cannot safely stay at home without electricity, water, or internet. Black, Brown, Indigenous and other communities of color have been hit hardest in keeping up with bills and rent during the COVID pandemic. Congress must stand up for all of us, but especially the most vulnerable, and ensure that a national moratorium on all utility services, as well as a national moratorium on evictions and an extension of the federal unemployment subsidy, is a priority in the next relief package currently in negotiations.
-
Are Drinking Water Suppliers Communicating Well with Spanish Speaking Communities?
Continue readingNorth Carolina is home to over 1 million Hispanic or LatinX inhabitants. While it would be incorrect to assume this entire population only speaks Spanish, our findings during our Mobile Home Park drinking water canvas last summer proved that many residents across the state may not be receiving critical health and service information about their drinking water except in English.
The US EPA characterizes a public water system (PWS) as one that “provides water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances to at least 15 service connections or serves an average of at least 25 people for at least 60 days a year.” A Community Water System (CWS) provides water to the same population year-round. Public community water systems include municipal, city, and town utilities, as well as private, for-profit utility corporations.
Noting the large population, almost 10%, of Hispanic people living in North Carolina, we spoke with public community water systems serving large Spanish-speaking communities to understand how they provide critical water quality information to their customers.
-
United We Grow – Collaboration for Racial Justice & Environmental Justice
Continue readingFrom the sharp rise in unemployment to the global pandemic impacting us all, tuning into the news this year often feels like opening Pandora’s box. This summer, as NC and other states struggled to flatten the COVID-19 curve, calls for systemic social change gained traction. On Memorial Day, George Floyd, a Black man, died while under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. His cries of “I can’t breathe” resonated with millions, catalyzing demonstrations throughout the country and world. Floyd’s death, one among many cases of brutality against Black lives, heightened awareness of the longstanding racial injustices prevalent in the US. Confederate statues have been knocked down and police departments scrutinized for their use of deadly force. Yet, these changes alone are not enough to bring justice. Racism has a pervasive, systemic grip on our society, a fact made obvious not only by unjust killings, but through the ongoing environmental injustices faced by the low-income and minority communities that CWFNC aims to work with to protect their rights.
Spearheaded by people of color in the 1980s, the Environmental Justice (EJ) movement is often regarded as a response to white, mainstream and elite environmentalism. EJ activists continue to bring attention to the unequal distribution of pollution in the US. A prime example of this discrimination is the recently cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which was set to cross through many Black, Indigenous, and poor communities in West Virginia, Virginia, and nearly 190 miles of eastern North Carolina.
-
Duke, Dominion Cancel Plans for Unjust Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Continue readingWe celebrate with the many thousands of impacted residents, and deeply committed activists, organizations, public interest law groups and coalitions that worked relentlessly to defeat this dangerous, costly and unnecessary pipeline.
-
Robeson County is NOT a Sacrifice Zone – Go Home, Active Energy!
Continue readingWe cannot allow Active Energy to use the communities of Robeson County as a sacrifice zone for a highly experimental product that will benefit international interests and produce unknown community and environmental health impacts.
-
Keeping an Eye on the impacts of Factory Farms
Continue readingCWFNC’s newest project addresses the under-regulated poultry industry and its threat to drinking water and community health. Poultry operations are spreading across the state at an alarming speed, while our […]
-
Hearings are Virtually Meaningless—But Speak Up For Communities!
Continue readingRight now, Americans are dealing with the day to day realities of a global pandemic. This is not the time to be burdened by worries about increased pollution that could […]
-
Stopping Rate Hikes for Duke Energy’s Dirty Energy & Climate-Busting Plans!
Continue readingRate cases for both Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) and Duke Energy Progress (DEP) are currently underway, with Duke seeking to recover costs associated with coal ash cleanup, upgrades to their fracked gas infrastructure and costly “grid modernization,” with no clear benefits to customers or cleaner energy. Impacts of the proposed rates would hit hard, as DEC wants to raise electric rates by at least 6.7%–increasing annual electricity bills for an average customer by over $100, while DEP is proposing to raise rates by at least 14.3%, adding over $200 annually to an average electric bill.
-
Consumers shouldn’t pay cleanup costs for coal ash dumping
Continue readingImpacted community members and environmental justice activists won a huge victory earlier this month when the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, community groups and Duke Energy signed a settlement agreement requiring the utility giant to fully excavate 80 million tons of coal ash from leaking, unlined pits in six sites across the state.
-
NEW REPORT: Working Towards Water Justice in North Carolina Mobile Home Parks
Continue readingThis summer, we worked with our Duke University Stanback intern, Elizabeth Allen, to conduct a “listening canvas,” reaching over 100 mobile home park communities in 9 counties to learn whether and where advocacy was needed to protect residents’ right to drinking water. Our outreach uncovered concerning patterns regarding landord disputes and drinking water access and quality.
-
Presentations from 35th Annual Meeting Celebration!
Continue readingThanks to all those who attended our 35th Anniversary Celebration at this year’s Annual Meeting! Click on the links to view the presentations from our amazing speakers!
-
Celebrating 35 Years of Working with NC Communities!
Continue readingJoin us in celebration of 35 years of working together! Sept. 21, 1:30 – 5:00 PM The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Avenue, Asheville Register on our Eventbrite Page! Clean Water […]
-
Standing Together Against Coal Ash Injustice
Continue readingThe news was announced on April Fools Day, but it was no joke! DEQ (The NC Dept. of Environmental Quality), backed by strong science, stood with coal ash communities in their decision to order Duke Energy to excavate coal ash from every remaining site in the state and move it into lined landfills. Duke Energy wasted no time in rebuking DEQ, speaking scathingly about the ordered clean-up, and leveraging its power to safeguard its own interests, but NC residents, businesses, and organizations, will not be standing down.
-
Victory for Coal Ash Communities Across NC!
Continue readingYou did it! You spoke out against injustice, and won! On April 1st, DEQ announced that communities across North Carolina will have toxic coal ash removed from unlined, leaking pits […]
