Five years later, the reality for hundreds of communities throughout the state is they have tap water that’s too contaminated to drink and no money to clean it up.
According to data from the state’s Water Resources Control Board, 700,000 Californians living in nearly 300 mostly rural and economically disadvantaged communities throughout the state have water that doesn’t meet safe drinking water standards.
Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel), along with an unusual coalition of environmentalists and farmers, says the solution to this problem is Senate Bill 623, which would establish a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund subsidizing the operation and maintenance costs of cleanup efforts in small communities.
Most water customers would see a $1 dollar fee tacked onto their water bill each month.
But to the town’s residents, the small water treatment plant is a stinging reminder they’ve been left behind.
The plant, completed about a decade ago with $1.3 million of grant funding obtained by the community, was supposed to clean the town’s water, which has some of the highest levels of arsenic in the state.
“So many people have failed Lanare,” Garibay said.
“Even if the community wanted to, we can’t afford to treat the water,” said Isabel Solorio, a Lanare resident who helped create a community group to advocate on the town’s behalf.