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<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>By VIC
POLLARD, Californian Sacramento Bureau <br>
e-mail: vpollard@bakersfield.com <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>SACRAMENTO</span></font></st1:City> -- Massive water
projects have protected <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>'s
cities and farms from droughts, but <br>
they have left many minorities and low-income residents suffering from too
little water or too much <br>
pollution, according to a report issued Wednesday by an environmental group. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
report by the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water condemned developments
like Klamath River <br>
irrigation projects, blamed for depriving Indians along the <st1:place w:st="on">Northern
California</st1:place> stream of their traditional <br>
salmon food supply and disrupting their cultural heritage. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Another
example cited in the report is the influx of mega-dairies, driven out of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Chino</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
by the <br>
crackdown on water pollution there, to towns like heavily Latino Wasco, which
seem powerless to block <br>
them. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
report contends that powerful water agencies and government regulators neglect
or harm ethnic and <br>
low-income communities by failing to protect them from pollution and blocking
them from <br>
decision-making processes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Water
is the lifeblood of California communities; sucking it away from native tribes
and Latino <br>
farmworkers will only dry up their local economies, their rivers, their
fisheries, their farmland and their <br>
cultural connections," said Alisha Deen, an author who contributed to the
report. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At a news
conference in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>,
one of several around the state called to release the report, officials <br>
said they do not have specific legislative proposals to remedy the problems. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>However,
the report called for more water conservation by farms and cities to reduce
consumption and <br>
greater involvement in the decision-making process by minorities and low-income
people affected by water <br>
policies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Officials
of the Kern County Water Agency, one of the big agencies that benefit from
water projects, did not <br>
respond to a request for comment. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
coalition is made up of a number of environmental and human rights groups,
officials said, and the <br>
report was funded by grants from charitable organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></u></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a><u>
</u></span></font><font color=gray><span style='color:gray'>(secondary)</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="http://caltrout.org">http://caltrout.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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