Lakehead-area residents live on bottled or boiled water.
Residents living in the Sugarloaf County Service Area were told March 17 that they should boil their tap water before drinking it.
That warning is likely to remain in effect for at least two or three more months as Shasta County officials seek funds to repair a well that provides water for the 150 residents in the service area near Lakehead, county Public Works Director Pat Minturn said.
Minturn said the county has applied for a grant from the state to pay for repairing the well that supplies the district with water.
Surface water is getting into the well, tainting it with e. coli bacteria.
A treatment plant kills the bacteria in the water, but the state Regional Water Quality Control Board said the process is unreliable and wants the well repaired, Minturn said.
In the meantime, the state Division of Drinking Water has approved another $25,000 to provide bottled water to low-income residents in the district.
Minturn said the water system was built in the 1970s by a private developer, and the county took eventually took over operating it.
In comparison, in 2016 the Jones Valley County Service Area leaked 14.9 million gallons, or about 26 percent of the total 56.6 million gallons produced, according to the county.
Minturn estimated it would cost about $2.5 million to upgrade the entire Sugarloaf CSA water delivery system.