Community Water Center
Heather Lukacs, PhD, currently serves as the Director of Community Solutions at the Community Water Center since May 2018. Previously, Lukacs held positions as the Central Coast Program Director at The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and Project Director at the Community Water Center. Additional experience includes a role as a Research Consultant at Stanford University and various positions at the National Parks Conservation Association and New River Clean Water Alliance. Lukacs has over a decade of experience as a Professional River Guide with North American River Runners. Academic credentials include a PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University, along with a Master’s degree and Bachelor's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Community Water Center
Clean water is a basic human right, not a privilege. Vision All communities have access to safe, clean, and affordable water. Mission Statement The Community Water Center acts as a catalyst for community-driven water solutions through organizing, education, and advocacy in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The Community Water Center helps build strategic grassroots capacity to address water challenges in small, rural, low-income communities and communities of color. Since opening its doors in 2006, CWC has worked with local residents from 82 California communities (69 in the southern San Joaquin Valley) to improve access to safe, clean, and affordable water. CWC has trained over 2,674 residents as clean water advocates and provided technical assistance to over 15 local water boards struggling with how to manage efficient and accountable water systems in their communities. CWC has also served as legal counsel to a number of small, disadvantaged communities with water systems. As a result, many rural, economically disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley now have improved access to clean and affordable drinking water. In 2009, CWC published a comprehensive Guide to Community Drinking Water Advocacy in both English and Spanish. This highly acclaimed guide has been distributed to hundreds of individuals, groups, and local water boards. See Here for more information. CWC also coordinates the coalition Asociación de Gente Unida por el Agua (AGUA), which is comprised of representatives of more than 17 local impacted communities and six nonprofit organizations, as well as youth and community-based organizations, all focused on addressing the root causes of unsafe and unaffordable drinking water for local communities.