Symbolic, Tactical, Transformative? The Impact of California’s Human Right to Water

Keywords: environmental justice, drinking water, social movements, human rights, legal geographies
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Legal recognition of the human right to water has been variously promoted as a basis for improved household water security, critiqued, and praised for its tactical and symbolic value to social movements. Despite calls for more nuanced and locally grounded explorations of the import and possibilities of human right to water claims within water justice struggles, few empirical analyses exist in the global North at the sub-national scale. In 2012, activists compelled the state of California to statutorily recognize the human right to water via Assembly Bill 685 (AB 685). Ten years later, more than one million Californians continue to face household water insecurity, despite considerable community organizing and state policy efforts toward realization of this right. Drawing on more than twenty semi-structured interviews, archival research, and public document analysis, we demonstrate how environmental justice advocates effectively and intentionally leveraged AB 685 for significant narrative and policy change. While not without limitations, AB 685 underscores how purportedly symbolic human rights policies can facilitate material efforts to address household water insecurity.