In California water politics and immigration debate collide
*These are also immigration and human rights issues: contaminated wells and the fact that agriculture workers are forced to drink from them, the contamination exacerbated by a record drought; politics that ignore the situation and draw attention to the border; a separate reality for immigrants who live off the grid. VL
By Maeve Reston and Gabe Ramirez, CNN
Coachella, California (CNN)The political debate over illegal immigration has centered on border security and whether there should be a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented living in this country.
[pullquote]”these wells already have arsenic, chromium, selenium and other contaminants in the water. What you’re doing is you’re increasing the concentration of these contaminants in the well water that humans are consuming.”[/pullquote]
But the presidential candidates from both parties rarely touch on the more complex questions underpinning the debate like the living conditions of the people who work the fields and whether the government has any role in providing for their basic needs such as clean water.
With California in the throes of a historic drought, those issues are converging here in the Coachella Valley, a place best known for its lush resorts and the Coachella Music Festival, but also home to a $600 million dollar agriculture industry.
Many of the farm workers here live off the grid in makeshift mobile home parks that are not connected to the water and sewer systems most Americans take for granted.
Water shortages across California have put a greater strain on groundwater resources in these communities — increasing the concentration of contaminants in the well water that they depend on. But the politics of piping clean water to these homes, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, are complicated. Many of the families are of mixed status, some legal and some not, sparking debate over the amount of taxpayer funds that should be spent.
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[Screenshot courtsy of CNN]
