One year later, 321 East Porterville homes connected to reliable running water

In many ways, East Porterville in California’s Central Valley was ground zero during the state’s historic five-plus year drought. In addition to the severe drought many of the households were hit doubly hard when work for farm workers also often dried up due to the multiple of fallowed fields. But the hardest part for many of the largely low-income Latino families was when their wells went dry or became contaminated as a result of the drought. More than 25 percent of East Porterville’s households fall below the poverty line; many have been employed by the nearby farms picking grapes and other produce.

In response three state agencies — the Department of Water Resources (DWR), the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services – partnered with the City of Porterville and other Tulare County agencies and local non-government organizations to seek, find and implement permanent solution to East Porterville’s water woes. The solution – a new water system which connects unincorporated East Porterville with the City of Porterville’s water supply, paid for by the state. The solution relieved the southern San Joaquin Valley community of its dependency on bottled water and emergency water storage tanks, upon which many families had relied for years.

A year ago, East Porterville residents, Guillermina Avila Ramirez, 55, her husband Leonicio Ramirez, 62, and their 20-year-old daughter, Tania became the city’s first home to be connected to the nearby Porterville city water main. Daughter Tania said at the time, “(it) seems a little bit more normal. We’re so happy.”

Now, one year after a new distribution system began delivering safe drinking water to the Ramirezes and other families in East Porterville, 321 homes are now receiving water from the system and an additional 446 homes are expected to be connected by the end of the calendar year.

“This project has been a huge success,” said Steve Doe, Department of Water Resources (DWR) project manager. “We’re pleased to see that by the end of the year, more than 750 families will have a permanent solution to the local water crisis. A lot of people have worked hard and quickly to make this project happen. We thank the residents for participating, the local agencies and nonprofits for their on-the-ground guidance, and our State partners for their leadership and involvement.”

Arthur Hinojosa, DWR’s drought manager, noted that although California’s emergency drought declaration was officially lifted in April, drought impacts continue in several counties including Tulare County where East Porterville is located. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s proclamation retained prohibitions on the wasteful use of water and advanced measures to make water conservation an ongoing success.

East Porterville resident Tomas Garcia understands the governor’s retained prohibitions saying, “We still have to save water, so we don’t water our grass every day.” But for Garcia’s family who started enjoying running water again in April, three years after their home lost it, he said, “My time for hauling water is over. It’s a 100-percent relief for me and my family, and our lives are so much better.”