San Joaquin Valley: Taps Run Dry in Record Heat
From the People’s Tribune: The article below was sent to us by a local resident who received it from Susana De Anda, Executive Director of Community Water Center in the San Joaquin Valley. Susana De Anda discusses the danger of communities going without water in the midst of record heat, and particularly, on the effect on low-income people. The Community Water Center fights for more than temporary fixes, and it also provides resources to low-income communities of color to continue the fight for water justice. For more background, see Los Angeles Times article on the California water crisis at https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-06-08/la-ed-california-groundwater-depletion%20/
We knew this was coming. In the midst of record heat, during the driest period in the past 1,200 years, more and more water taps are running dry across the state, with the San Joaquin Valley being hit especially hard. In the past month, at least three public water providers in Tulare County alone are struggling to keep water flowing to homes during 100+ summer weather. The community of Tooleville (pop. 184) is struggling with steeply declining groundwater levels. Its residents currently rely on bottled water for consumption and non-potable water stored in tanks for other household uses.
Seville’s (pop. 449) water pressure dropped so low that some households could only access running water in their yards — it never made it to their taps. One of their wells is on the brink of failure due to its shallow depth. The well pump in East Orosi (pop. 624) stopped working due to a power failure at the community’s only working well. Residents were left without water on a 103 degree day. During this time, a house caught on fire and there was no water to put it out. Firefighters brought tanked water, but by then the damage was done.
With government and nonprofits scrambling to respond, water was restored for all three communities, but each one is relying on a temporary fix. The threat of losing water is constant and likely to happen again as water levels decline due to drought and competition from ag wells deplete rural communities’ primary source of water.
Public water systems aren’t the only ones struggling to access safe water. More than 650 household wells have gone dry so far this year with no sign of slowing down as the drought persists. The threat of losing water at any moment places a tremendous amount of stress on low-income families. Add on top of that 100+ heat, and the situation is simply dangerous.
This doesn’t have to be our reality. In addition to emergency resources, long-term solutions for water security are needed. We are pursuing solutions like connecting to nearby water systems with deeper and more reliable wells and managing our limited, precious supply of groundwater for all users. CWC is also connecting residents to immediate drought relief resources and participating in statewide and local drought task forces to improve resource coordination and deployment to communities now.
Will you donate $50 today to help us respond to urgent drought relief this summer?
Gracias,
Susana De Anda
Executive Director, E-mail info@communitywatercenter.org
