A friend to water-disadvantaged communities has died. Carl Morrison passed away, Friday, April 6, 2018, when his plane crashed amidst a storm that brought rain and strong winds to Northern California. The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (EJCW) would like to thank Carl for his staunch support for EJCW and underrepresented communities at large.
In addition to Carl being a true gentleman with a zest for life, Carl was a family man, man of faith, Marine veteran, and Vice Commander of California’s Civil Air Patrol. He loved flying and shared that love with others.
Carl seemed to have his hand in everything water-related in the Bay Area and beyond. EJCW staff interacted with Carl in his various roles with the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management region, Resilient by Design, the Bay Area Flood Protection Agencies Association, the Roundtable of Regions, and more. One of Carl’s recent passions was Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information (AQPI). Carl speared-headed the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management region’s Prop 84 Round 4 grant application for the project and had been shepherding it through the implementation process.
Upon learning of his passing, former EJCW colleagues recalled how Carl stood out in championing outreach to environmental justice and disadvantaged communities in the Bay Area, beginning in 2006, when he personally contracted with EJCW to review the original IRWM Plan and help develop disadvantaged community projects. Carl worked hard to create space for environmental justice in the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management region. In fact, EJCW’s first funds, as a newly independent non-profit, came by way of a sub-contract under Carl’s contract. Always a gentleman and mentor, Carl took junior EJCW staffers under his wing, even offering to cover a staffer’s salary, temporarily, when a delayed contract threatened a budget shortfall. Today, owing a lot to the foundation Carl laid, EJCW is managing a $6.5 million Disadvantaged Community Involvement Program through the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management region, through which we aim to make water equity and justice a central organizing principle for water management in the Bay Area and beyond.
Please keep Carl’s wife Mary, their children, and grandchildren in your hearts and prayers, and keep working, as Carl did, to benefit our communities and the environment.
Thank you, Carl, for all your support over the years. You will be missed.
The EJCW Team