PRIORITIES
Safe & Quality Drinking Water
The highest priority of any water agency is to ensure safe drinking water is available to everyone. Juan will continue to push for monitoring and testing of our drinking water to prevent contaminants and bacteria in our water. Additionally, he will push for our water infrastructure to be upgraded, especially in historically disadvantaged communities – many in our Central Basin service area.
Cost of Drinking Water
Access to safe water and clean water is a basic human right. Juan is committed to delivering the best water for our communities while realizing that water rates should be stable. Infrastructure improvements are necessary to soften the impact of climate change and provide clean water, but we should distribute those costs in an equitable manner that will not burden working families more than others.
Reliable Water for Everyone
Water reliability ensures our quality of life in Southern California. Juan will continue establishing new partnerships, ensuring our water continues to be clean and safe, will champion water innovation and will create quality jobs to preserve our access to clean drinking water and to create new water supplies. He will also continue to be 100% committed to water conservation, recycled water, and investing in water resiliency projects now to ensure water reliability for everyone in our future.
Preparation for Climate Change
Juan understands that climate change is making it harder to secure water for us all. He has championed adaptation to our changing climate by working to create jobs to ensure quality improvements to local infrastructure will handle extreme weather conditions while still providing us all clean and reliable water. By conserving water, adapting to climate change, increasing recycled water and improving our infrastructure, we can begin to address the immediate impacts of climate change on our water supply while minimizing its devastating impacts on our most precious resource, our drinking water.
Equity of Water Supply and Service
For years, many working-class communities have not benefited from clean and safe water. They have been marginalized, resulting in lower water supply and quality. Juan will fight to end this, knowing that water is a human right and working families must have the same healthy water as everyone else. Juan has had the courage to stand up to water interests that attempt to divert clean water from Southern California communities in need, and he will continue to fight for equity in water for all.
Transparency in Water Leadership
Our water should be transparent and so should the policies and practices of our local water leaders and agencies. We must shine a light and expose practices that financially benefit some at the expense of clean and safe water for everyone else. It takes courage to stand up and raise issues that may make others feel uncomfortable, but Juan believes these types of challenges must occur in order for equity and transparency to prevail. He will continue to be accountable for transparency in his water leadership and will hold other water leaders accountable too.