Not because the City decided to do right by its residents, but because with support from people like you, we made it impossible for them not to. Community members reported overflows, showed up at City Hall, and refused to be ignored. Together, we uncovered thousands of Clean Water Act violations and won a 2021 federal consent decree requiring Houston to invest $2 billion in its sewer system. Your support made that accountability possible. Five years later, we see results. In neighborhoods where consent decree infrastructure investment has finally arrived, overflows have come down. That's because of this work. That's because of you. However, we continue to see sewage overflows and our efforts to ensure that the city fulfills its promise to our city remain in full force. As Houston enters budget season, we expect to see some familiar arguments surface: that investing in basic infrastructure is too expensive, too complicated, too much to ask. But in a city surrounded by water we know there is no excuse for failing to invest in water infrastructure, especially before disaster strikes (and overflows are at their worst). When the City calls the consent decree a burden, we'll be there to remind them: we're not here because of the consent decree. We're here because for decades the city government chose, year after year, not to prioritize the health and safety of its working families. The decree didn't create the cost. Neglect did. The vision we're fighting for is bigger than compliance. It's clean bayous in every neighborhood. Clean water is a fundamental right, not a luxury, and a city's basic responsibility to its people. | 
