Tulare Co. towns can't tap funds for clean water
Mark Grossi
Fresno Bee
05/31/2010
Federal officials used more than $20 billion in stimulus money to jump-start all kinds of projects in California over the last year -- everything from filling potholes to monitoring volcanoes.
But the spending spree never reached some of the state's poorest residents, who often get contaminated water when they turn on the taps in at least 10 small Tulare County communities.
Federal officials funded such projects as a $16.6 million update of the spillway on Folsom Dam and a $4.4 million solar-electric system at Yosemite National Park. Why didn't federal money -- which was gone by February -- clean up drinking water in Tulare County's poverty pockets?
Answer: The projects were not "shovel-ready" for construction. The stimulus funds were designed to spark quick economic recovery by providing jobs on projects that didn't need preliminary work.
Towns such as Tooleville, East Orosi and Seville face a Catch-22: They didn't qualify for stimulus money because they didn't have plans ready for their water cleanup projects. But without stimulus money, they can't afford to draw up those plans, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. With only a few hundred residents each, they can't afford loans for the design work.
So their water systems remain contaminated by nitrates from farm fertilizers, dairies, waste-water treatment plants and septic systems.
"We've got a 100-year-old water system," said Seville resident Rebecca Quintana, 54, a board member of the Stone Corral Elementary School District in the area. "Our distribution pipeline runs through an irrigation ditch. Sand and all kinds of things, like nitrates, get into those leaky lines."
Bad water
Nitrates are linked with cancer, pregnancy risks and a blood disorder called methemoglobinemia, or "blue-baby syndrome."
Residents are forced to pay up to $60 a month for bottled water. Bottled water dispensers occupy all the classrooms at the Stone Corral school district.
People who can't afford bottled water say they wonder if contaminated water is connected to unexplained stomach ailments among children, cancer deaths and aborted pregnancies.
There is no confirmed connection between the health problems and the contamination. But Tulare County's infant mortality rate is higher than the state average -- 6.4 deaths per 100,000 infant births, versus 5.3 statewide.
In addition, the county's death rate exceeds the state average for a variety of cancers associated with high nitrates, including stomach, bladder, ovarian and colon cancers, according to numbers compiled by the nonprofit Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities, based in North Carolina. The research was funded with a grant from The California Endowment, a foundation that focuses on health issues.
The nonprofit Community Water Center, an advocacy group based in Visalia, calls the drinking water contamination an unrecognized crisis.
"Some people have been waiting years for safe drinking water in their home," said center co-director Laurel Firestone. "Our leaders do not think this is a problem."
Government help
Federal, state and county officials have known for years about the bad water in Tulare County and other parts of the San Joaquin Valley. Government funding to fix the problem has been available in limited amounts over many years.
Federal funds are allocated to help rural communities every year, said Sarah Pursley, public information coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One local agency did get help from the stimulus funds. By working through the Agriculture Department, the Cutler Public Utility District had been able to draw up plans -- which made it eligible for nearly $3 million in grants and loans to replace and rehabilitate sewer lines.
