2026 Annual Symposium — Tackling Legal Barriers to Drinking Water and Wastewater Access in Rural Unincorporated Communities

The last panel of Ecology Law Quarterly’s 2026 Annual Symposium, titled “Tackling Legal Barriers to Drinking Water and Wastewater Access in Rural Unincorporated Communities,” brought together experts doing groundbreaking work in the
field to discuss the legal barriers to improving drinking water and wastewater systems in rural unincorporated communities. Elias Rodriguez and Leticia Casillas-Luquin from CLRA, Nataly Escobedo Garcia from Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, and Kristin Dobbin from the U.C. Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources brought the audience along through case studies of their efforts to improve drinking water and wastewater systems in rural unincorporated areas. The panel was moderated by Dave Owen.