Well, it finally happened. After months and months of California’s historic drought, a city has been forced to resort to distributing bottled water to many residents whose wells have run dry.
Roughly 300 homes, many of which were previously dependent on personal wells that have since run dry, have received a three-week supply of bottled water from Tulare County officials. In all, county officials handed out 15,552 1-gallon bottles of water to the community of East Porterville, located in the parched Central Valley.
County officials have also filled a 2,500-gallon water tank with nonpotable water in order to ensure residents can bathe and flush their toilets. Michael Lockman, manager of Tulare County's Office of Emergency Services said that the problem may be even worse than it already seems, since the amount of wells gone dry is currently “grossly underreported.”
The residents that are currently getting were only brought to the attention of county officials by a local nonprofit group. Otherwise, many predict East Porterville residents would not be getting any water aid at all, since nobody asked for help. Officials observed a general distrust of government and focus on privacy among East Porterville citizens.
County officials want to stress that they only help as many people in the area are in dire need of help. In one extreme case, they found up to 14 people living in a home with an empty well.
Read more about East Porterville’s water problems here.