ACWA Requests Water Workers Receive Early COVID-19 Vaccination by ACWA Staff Jan 6, 2021 Water News The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Jan. 4 announced California’s COVID-19 vaccine plan, which includes those at risk of exposure at work in the water and wastewater sector in Phase 1C. “I am pleased that CDPH recognized that the water sector provides essential services and needed to be prioritized for vaccines,” said ACWA Executive Director Dave Eggerton. ACWA had advocated that the state include essential water and wastewater workers among professionals prioritized to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Eggerton made the request in a Dec. 30 letter to the Community Vaccine Advisory Committee, which advises the CDPH. “Like the availability of food, the availability of drinking water is essential to life. Similarly, wastewater services are critical to sanitation. The workers who provide water and wastewater service are often not visible to the public, but the services that they provide are necessary for human survival and basic daily living,” Eggerton stated in the letter. The letter was copied to several officials within the Newsom Administration, including California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Jared Blumenfeld and members of the State Water Resources Control Board, among others.
