Zach Haydt

Water Rights Fellow

Fellowship Class 2019

Host agency Community Water Center

Location Central Valley

Sponsored by ChangeLawyers℠

Law School UC Hastings

ChangeLawyers℠ Legal Fellow Zach is tasked with researching legal policy for sustainable groundwater initiatives.

Zach is originally from Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelors of the Arts in Spanish Literature and Grammar from Temple University in Philadelphia. After studying Spanish in both Spain and Mexico, he moved to Fresno in the middle of the 2014-2017 drought, which dramatically illustrated to him the tenuous nature of the state’s water supply. 

Zach developed a passion for aiding rural families in gaining access to clean drinking water while attending law school at the University of California - Hastings College of the Law. There, he worked with a disadvantaged community in the Salinas Valley in their efforts at taking ownership of their drinking water supply after years of negligent management by a private operator. The strength and resilience of the community inspired him to seek an opportunity to join the struggle for access to safe water in California.
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Upon graduation, Zach returned to the Central Valley to fight for the human right of access to safe drinking water. He believes in the Community Water Center Vision that no California family should have to suffer for lack of clean, safe, and affordable drinking water.
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