Editor’s note: Jena Price, CLCV Legislative Affairs Manager, is spending a few weeks on the road meeting with lawmakers in Central and Southern California in their districts to learn more about the environmental issues that are most important to them and their constituents. Today Jena blogs from Lemoore.
Avenal native Jose Ramirez is a 2012 Olympian and a professional boxer with a 7-0 record. The 21-year-old lightweight got a first round knockout (his fifth) on November 9th — his first fight in the central San Joaquin Valley since turning professional — in a match called the “Fight for Water” at the Golden Eagle Arena in Lemoore.
On a drive home from Los Angeles one day, looking at dusty fields and listening to a local radio station program about the need for water, Ramirez realized he didn’t want to just box. He wanted to do something to serve his hometown of Avenal and the surrounding communities. He had seen his immigrant parents struggle to find work in the fields during droughts. He remembers the lines before dawn outside the general stores as people were heading out to work in the fields.
He recently became a spokesperson for the CA Latino Water Coalition (CLWC) which is “dedicated to resolving the state’s water crisis and gaining permanent water supply improvements to ensure continued economic growth and prosperity in California.” (Assemblymember Henry Perea is the CLWC Central California Chairman.)
According to a recent article in Boxing Scene:
The fight card has been called “Fight for Water” because Ramirez wants to help make a difference in farm-related employment and their families who lose their jobs when water supplies are reduced.
Rick Mirigian, Ramirez’s agent, said naming the event was a no-brainer. “Jose and his family struggled first hand when the water didn’t flow, and times got even harder for his family, who relied on the field work and farming industry,” Mirigian said. “It is important that the public and his fans know that no matter how big a fight he has or will ever have, that the biggest fight that could be won is the ‘Fight for Water.’ “
At a recent press conference, Ramirez said: “I believe in my partners, my team, the Latino Water Coalition and the people of the Central Valley and I want to work to create a voice for the people of the Central Valley.”
Mario Santoyo, the executive director of the CLWC, says his biggest struggle is finding and securing water for the Central Valley. He believes communities throughout California gets adequate water but the Central Valley is an afterthought. This is troubling given the amount of agriculture in the Valley that helps feed the entire country. As water supply decreases, unemployment increases: in some areas upwards of 40 percent.
The coalition says the legislature needs to focus on water quality and reliability. Updated water infrastructure costs more than rate payers can afford.
Members of the coalition acknowledge there’s no silver bullet to tackling the state’s complicated water issues. Santoyo said there needs to be dual goals and the coalition must be “progressive” with environmental needs while determining how to deal with water reliability. The coalition has worked closely with the California Legislative Latino Caucus and believes the tools include water recycling, desalination, and other methods of offsetting Delta demands. Some of their proposed solutions have clearly been controversial with many of the state’s environmental groups.
“With Jose’s involvement, a level of attention is being raised to the water crisis, which could soon be a zero allocation,” said Santoyo.
“It’s kind of devastating when you know over a hundred acres of land are gonna go to waste ’cause of a lack of water,” said Ramirez. “That 100 acres brings a lot of jobs to people so that was the motivation that got me to be a part of it.”
