Calif (FOX26) — Two men were arrested and 1 was cited during a drug bust in Porterville on Friday Around 9:00 am detectives with Porterville Police served a search warrant at a property on Avenue 146 in East Porterville Detectives believed there was a stolen trailer on the property they saw 48-year-old Kevin Russell of Porterville run into a trailer they gave multiple commands for Russell to get out of the trailer Porterville Police's SWAT team was then called out to assist detectives with the situation Russell exited the trailer --which was stolen-- and he was arrested detectives also found 48-year-old Eugene Gaines and 38-year-old- William Strowmatt They say Strowmatt was hiding in a separate trailer on the property Police say Gaines had one misdemeanor arrest warrant while Strowmatt was on Post-Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and had 6 outstanding arrest warrants Police say 3 of Strowmatt’s warrants were felony warrants Once officers were able to search the trailer where Russell had been barricaded They believe he had been trying to destroy them and evidence he was actively engaged in selling drugs Police later learned Russell had previous drug-related convictions and was out on bail Police say Russell will face new charges including: Possession of a Stolen Trailer; Destruction of Evidence; Possession of Fentanyl for Sales; Possession of Cocaine for Sales; Possession of Heroin for Sales; Possession of Brass Knuckles; Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; Possession of Drugs with Prior Convictions; Operating and Maintaining a Drug House; and Resisting or Delaying a Police Officer He was booked at the Tulare County Sheriff's Office South County Detention Facility Strowmatt was also booked at South County Detention Facility for resisting or delaying a Police Officer and his six outstanding arrest warrants Gaines was cited and released from the Porterville PD on a misdemeanor warrant Police ask anyone with information about this case to call (559)782-7400 or through their Facebook or Instagram page Those who have information may also provide it anonymously The embattled Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) may soon have only one member entity left The City of Porterville and Porterville Irrigation District are set to vote Dec. 17 and Jan. 9, respectively, on a draft joint powers agreement to form their own groundwater agency The Saucelito and Terra Bella irrigation districts have also begun discussions to leave Eastern Tule form their own GSAs The Kern-Tulare Water District left Eastern Tule in February. And the Tea Pot Dome and Vandalia water districts left last summer which covers land where farmers are almost entirely groundwater dependent with one member entity – the County of Tulare What that will mean for the future of Eastern Tule growers is unclear have taken over management of groundwater dependent lands as allowed under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) It’s unknown if Eastern Tule will continue to exist with a single member but SGMA doesn’t allow any areas of an overdrafted subbasin to be left without GSA coverage The separations will also not get the fleeing districts out from under a lawsuit filed by the Friant Water Authority against Eastern Tule The lawsuit alleges Eastern Tule enacted policies that shorted what it was supposed to have paid toward fixing the Friant-Kern Canal which is sinking due to overpumping by farmers in Eastern Tule you can’t get out of it by getting rid of your partner,” said Porterville Irrigation District Board President Erc Borba at the district’s Dec Porterville ID will likely break with Eastern Tule “Unless we get a lot of ‘hell no’s,’ that’s the direction we’re going,” Borba said Eastern Tule general manager Rogelio Caudillo did not have any comment on member entities’ discussions or decisions The mass exodus comes after the state Water Resources Control Board placed the Tule subbasin on probation Sept. 17 for not having an adequate groundwater plan It was not protective enough of domestic wells and continued allowing too much subsidence beneath the Friant-Kern Canal Water Board directors also pointed out Eastern Tule specifically for having questionable groundwater accounting policies that one board member said just didn’t make sense Growers must meter and register their wells at $300 each report extractions to the state and pay $20 per acre foot pumped to the state as well The Water Board granted exemptions to two Tule subbasin entities the Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District and Kern-Tulare Water District GSAs growers in those districts won’t have to report and pay fees to the state That is the brass ring Porterville ID and the other districts are hoping to grab by forming their own GSAs Some members in the audience of Porterville ID’s Dec 10 meeting asked if the process could be fast-tracked “We are valiantly trying to get you guys out of probation,” board member Brett McCowan said Porterville ID general manager Sean Geivet said meetings with Water Board staff have been productive “We’re plowing fresh ground but nobody sees any reason not to do it this way,” he said A state Water Board staff member confirmed the districts have met with the state but did not elaborate on whether it would result in exemptions from fees and reporting under probation From Porterville Irrigation District’s perspective there are two main benefits to partnering with the city in a separate GSA: increased opportunities for funding and water storage With Lake Success located above Porterville and a portion of the district within the city limits the proposed partnership will give the district added flexibility for water storage “The city is a good partner at taking water and putting it above us rather than outside our boundary,” McCowan said a partnership could help with domestic wells “The city has been a poster child of well mitigation since the drought and continues to work closely with the state on mitigation,” said Michael Knight hundreds of homes in unincorporated east Porterville went dry for months Knight said Porterville has advocated for consolidation of small water systems on the perimeter of the city limits that were impacted either by drought or dilapidated infrastructure “That’s what I see as an important role with the city,” he said “We work closely with agencies promoting those efforts and with the state That would be a high positive in the review of the GSA and implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan.” Knight added that the city also has its own recharge and other projects that left it with a net positive of 3,000 acre-feet in 2023 Porterville ID’s Borba said the district wouldn’t officially break with Eastern Tule until September 2025 SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, www.sjvwater.org Groundwater San Joaquin Valley SGMA State Board intervention Tule subbasin advocates and residents gathered in Porterville on Monday to celebrate the five-year mark of a state drinking water program born of the crippling 2012-2016 drought That’s when the entire community of east Porterville went dry – for months. There was no government program available to help and nonprofits could only do so much. Residents relied on the charity of neighbors and complete strangers who read about the disaster and brought water in by the truckload San Joaquin Valley communities shone a light on the precarious state of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Californians That money funds projects that bring safe drinking water to communities throughout the state infrastructure replacement and construction to hook up small communities to larger urban water systems The celebration was held in Porterville in Tulare County once the poster child of drinking water disasters about 1,000 private wells serving homes in unincorporated east Porterville went dry plunging the community into a drinking water crisis Other small community wells in Porterville have also collapsed and gone dry since then have been consolidated into the City of Porterville’s much larger SAFER has also funded multiple projects throughout the city including other consolidations “We are in a summer that is unprecedentedly hot We will continue to see this,” said Yana Garcia California’s Secretary for Environmental Protection “We will continue to experience droughts and floods that call into question the way that we think about our infrastructure dollars and our infrastructure funding and the needs of communities.” Advocates from nonprofits Community Water Center Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability and Self-Help Enterprises also spoke at the event All three organizations have partnered with the state to help bring SAFER projects to communities in need Advocates said that despite successes through the program there is still a constant need for more solutions “The work is not finished,” said Susana De Anda executive director of Community Water Center “As we solve this issue we need to work alongside the impacted residents to get it right because if we don’t we’re going to fail once again.” the group took a bus tour of five SAFER projects around Porterville They stopped to hear from residents and former volunteer board members of Central Mutual Water Company one of the small water systems that was consolidated with the city system The state Water Resources Control Board used $1.2 million in SAFER funding to complete the project in 2023 Additional wells are still being built to expand the city’s capacity Board members with Central Mutual had been considering consolidation and putting an end to their company because the infrastructure The straw that broke the camel’s back came in 2016 when the company’s well ran dry “Our well went down for a week,” said Paulette Carpenter There are 79 fully completed SAFER funded projects in the San Joaquin Valley ranging from technical assistance for mutual water companies to consolidations There are 267 ongoing projects in the valley The state Water Board was unable to provide funding numbers for those projects in time to include in this article SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site dedicated to covering water in the San Joaquin Valley. Get inside access to SJV Water by becoming a member Hundreds of Residents Now Have Access to Sustainable Supply working to help homeowners affected by California’s multi-year drought All households participating in the East Porterville Water Supply Project have now been connected to the City of Porterville’s municipal water system. “It’s such a relief to have water flowing from the faucet and the shower again until it’s gone,” said Amelia Arroyo who received a water connection in January 2017 Hundreds of residential wells in the small unincorporated community of East Porterville in Tulare County became dry or contaminated during California’s recent five-year drought Homes without access to safe potable water received deliveries of tanked water and bottled water this temporary solution was unsustainable for both the state and community members “The residents of East Porterville were especially hard hit by the effects of this recent drought,” said Mark Ghilarducci director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services “Hundreds of homes were at the mercy of Mother Nature as their wells ran dry Urgent action was needed on the part of many agencies to find short and long-term solutions It’s satisfying to see a long-term solution now in place for many homes helping to mitigate the impacts of future droughts.” Three state agencies – the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services – partnered with Tulare County agencies and community organizations such as Self-Help Enterprises and Community Water Center to deliver a permanent solution to East Porterville’s water crisis Construction on the $48 million East Porterville Water Supply Project kicked off in early 2016 with the installation of new water distribution lines to connect homes in East Porterville to the neighboring City of Porterville’s municipal system “The goal was to get a permanent supply of safe water to the residents who were without water as soon as possible,” said Eileen Sobeck executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board “The significant impact of the drought on access to safe drinking water for hundreds of local families could not have been addressed without the extraordinary collaboration between state and local governments and the local community groups We hope the success of the partnerships here will assist in developing new ways of working together and avoid future drought impacts to communities like East Porterville.” The first phase connected about 300 homes that were receiving emergency water deliveries Those connections were completed in March 2017 The second phase connected about 450 additional households that still had access to water in their wells but who wished to avoid the possibility of future water insecurity Of the 1,100 homes eligible for the project in both phases a total of 755 took advantage of the offer “I’m glad to know that my family will always have access to clean water now drought or no drought,” said Darcy Stroud who signed up during Phase 2 of the project but we realized we really wanted the water connection "While this project has brought relief to many,” said Arthur Hinojosa chief of DWR’s Division of Integrated Regional Water Management “more work is needed to ensure that all California residents have access to clean We’re supporting regional work to sustainably manage groundwater basins and promoting water use efficiency and conservation to make sure California’s local and regional water supplies are resilient for all needs." Construction will continue through 2018 to complete additional infrastructure supporting the project Although the statewide drought officially ended last year the current water year is off to a dry start and many communities continue to suffer localized drought impacts Californians everywhere are encouraged to make water conservation a way of life (916) 653-5114 | Doug.Carlson@water.ca.gov California Office of Emergency Services | media@caloes.ca.gov Welcome, Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog OutFirefighters gaining control over wildfire burning near PortervilleThursday 2024Loved ones are honoring a young woman killed in alleged DUI crash one year ago in Madera.PORTERVILLE (KFSN) -- Firefighters are gaining more control over a wildfire burning east of Porterville The Cow Fire is now 50% contained and has burned just more than 500 acres The fire is burning in a remote location of Tulare County that's difficult to access in steep terrain East Porterville is the epicenter of suffering in drought-stricken California: with private wells dried up people are leeching water from neighbors’ hoses and relying on bottled water for basic living ‘There’s so many straws in the glass that sooner or later it’s going empty’ Residents talk about nervous neighbors “pulling the hose” or speculate about which houses on a street are “on the line” People gripe about how neighbors use “tank water” to hydrate plants That water lingo developed in this rural city of 6,700 – mostly poor Latino farm workers – should not be surprising There has been a preoccupation with the stuff that comes from the tap since residents started running out of it East Porterville is the epicenter of individual suffering in drought-stricken California Nearly 1,000 private wells that once delivered water to homes and small businesses inside Tulare County have dried up leaving desperate residents with just a few costly options as the well failures expand and without much water infrastructure to speak of the people of East Porterville are expecting a long Waterless residents are struggling to shower The Tule River in Porterville is dry except for a few pools of water Photograph: Scott Smith/APState and county officials the intensifying drought is likely to only worsen the water nightmare here encountered her first dry well last spring – her own Though water would sometimes dribble out of her faucet through the hot summer months she didn’t accept that her well could fail until weeks after it actually did Almost a month had passed when her husband As he lowered an electric pump into the hole that once supplied their home with water there was an audible “clunk” when their should have been a splash So Johnson started asking around: Do you have water the list of people who had no water – to drink I don’t know that we would have had any sense of the severity of it,” said Andrew Lockman Since the county started tracking private well failures in September County officials have approved more than 2,600 well-drilling permits; 654 households have bottled drinking water hand-delivered; and the United Way of Tulare County has received 683 drought-related calls for assistance The water angel’s efforts have caused spats with her husband She receives late-night phone calls from hysterical mothers without water Friends and neighbors – even her well contractor – have spit frustration her way “Nobody had a concept of what it was like to live without water,” Johnson told the Guardian Fewer still know when it’s going to come back More water comes in bottles, distributed from churches, the county and Johnson herself. And there remains hope that the end of April could bring a storm. More people still have improvised solutions of their own. Some have hooked a neighbor’s garden hose to their house, cautiously sipping from a neighbor’s well. (When a well-owner takes the water back, that’s called “pulling the hose”.) Others haul water home in giant barrels or gray plastic garbage cans from a large tank at the town’s fire station. where a trailer with 16 emergency showers sits in the parking lot a steady stream of cars pass through the lot looking for bottled water Security guard Daisy Martinez directs the drivers to the pastor’s remaining bottles “Every day there’s always people asking for water,” said Martinez a new mother who lives in Porterville on the municipal water system “He runs out very quickly.” Pastor Ramon Hernandez gave away his final box on Wednesday morning He didn’t expect more until the following week Of course, East Porterville isn’t the only town experiencing extreme drought in California. Nearly the entire state is at least “abnormally dry” (0.14% is not). Almost half the state (44%) is in “exceptional” drought, the most severe condition, according to the US Drought Monitor That prompted Governor Jerry Brown to declare mandatory restrictions on urban water use, ordering a 25% cutback have been criticized for not requiring enough of agriculture which accounts for 80% of human water use in the state some researchers believe much of California’s water use remains obscured by a complex regulatory system built around the state’s most precious resource California’s water rights system regulates surface water but not groundwater making it difficult to track which users slurp up the most water despite acknowledgements from the state water board that the two resources are interdependent Two scientists at the University of California found that the state’s surface water alone is over-allocated by a factor of five and that it’s unclear how much water California actually uses “Without improvements to the water rights system,” they wrote last summer “growing human and environmental demands portend an intensification of regional water scarcity and social conflict.” Surface water is allocated by water rights in California In an effort to mitigate the regulatory gulf between surface water and groundwater California’s legislature passed a law to require sustainability plans from local water agencies the law won’t be in full effect until 2040 Meanwhile, the San Joaquin Valley is one of the heaviest groundwater users in the state and authorities have known for some time that many small California towns lean heavily on groundwater supplies A 2003 Department of Water Resources report expressed this in the plainest of terms: “Many small- to moderate-sized towns and cities are entirely dependent on groundwater for drinking water supplies.” Up to 50% of Californians use groundwater for at least part of their water supply but there is little data or management of the resource Groundwater generally supplies most domestic uses in Tulare County Both East Porterville and its sister city Porterville are dependent on such groundwater The key difference between the two cities is that Porterville has water Porterville was developed with a municipal water system hooked to a deep Residents of Porterville depend on groundwater as much as their neighbors to the east but because the larger city has infrastructure to pump from a deep aquifer The lack of public infrastructure in East Porterville is part of what makes the “disaster” so difficult to mitigate: to get federal cash a disaster must impact public infrastructure it’s largely impoverished farm workers bearing the brunt of the drought “This is a kind of the-poor-get-poorer situation,” said Lockman and you still have a roof over your head but you can’t flush the toilet many residents of East Porterville work at citrus packing plants or pick oranges or grapes Of the 1,700 residences in East Porterville homeowners of East Porterville have to find water by their own means but most cover only a third of the cost of drilling but the exorbitant cost of drilling can make payments hundreds of dollars per month The county’s ability to help is also limited by cash Installing a municipal water system in East Porterville would likely take the better part of a decade and cost up to $60m Connecting to Porterville’s water is also tenuous Some houses are simply out of the system’s reach miles from the nearest connections; for others constructing a connection is too expensive The divide between Porterville and East Porterville and even between neighbors with city water or dry wells There’s sniping between those trying to help The topic of water can be delicate even between family members Dalia Madrigal is a cashier at Hari’s Market a Valero gas station and convenience store on one of East Porterville’s main thoroughfares which she rents with four other people including a two-year-old Her neighbor loaned the house a garden hose to provide running water but she and her housemates are cautious about using it before 10pm and people are watering their plants over there,” Madrigal said Judgment swirls around the relatively few people with lush green yards and there are tales of neighbors calling the police on one another for watering plants with tank water Johnson called the cemetery and golf course in town “irritating” an elementary school cafeteria worker in East Porterville there is no car-washing and no lawn-watering her husband and her son take “two-minute” showers And she fears seeing sand come from the tap a sign that a pump is delivering the last water reserves of an empty well “I’m scared because sometimes my pressure goes really low,” said Nungaray She said she was especially nervous when her neighbors’ well pump had a mechanical problem “When your neighbor starts having problems While most people seem to take the shortage in good humor Is there water at the end of the rainbow – or just more suffering? Photograph: Donna JohnsonAt his auto repair shop, Edy Rodriguez knocks the rear disc brake of a late-model Chevrolet Malibu into place, while trying to explain to Johnson why his family of seven has no water. When Rodriguez attempted to navigate a web of bureaucracy to get his $30 water tank filled, “They told my wife, not for right now,” he said. Rodriguez’s family uses a hose from his neighbor’s house, an informal agreement that costs Rodriguez $50 per month. His business is also without water. California’s drought is only expected to intensify through the summer, according to the Climate Prediction Center, making a full recharge of East Porterville’s wells unlikely. Tulare County, identified by the state as a high priority for installing groundwater management, is overdrafting its supply by around 65m gallons per year. In the meantime, Lockman said, the county is attempting to provide “first-world type of things”. The only surefire way to mitigate the public health hazard “is to go out and red-tag the homes”, said Lockman, using government jargon for condemning the properties. “We take over a stadium and now you’re running a shelter, and you’ve displaced people from their support systems and their lives. “Realistically, I don’t think it’s beyond the point of failure to have double the number of wells go dry,” he said. “There’s so many straws in the glass that sooner or later it’s going empty.” This article was amended on 23 April 2015. An earlier version said “aqueduct” where “aquifer” was meant. so why is a $1.2-million water system untapped 1/11 Humberto Beltran shaves at the outdoor sinks and showers that are provided for East Porterville residents who have no running water 2/11 The Porterville Area Coordination Council offers residents free bottled water They can also pump water into multi-gallon totes to bring home 3/11 Guillermina Andrade pours potable water into her toilet to flush it at her home in East Porterville 4/11 Porterville resident Lonnie Willis picks up bottled water at the Porterville Area Coordination Council’s Water Resource Center hugs Guillermina Andrade while delivering water with Ruben Perez to Andrade’s home 6/11 Tomas Garcia has been without running water for the last two years He gets by with a water tank in his front yard. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 7/11 Gonzalo Martinez stores water in a tank in his frontyard 8/11 Modesto de la Cruz sits with his 2 year-old daughter The family has a water tank for taking showers and washing dishes 9/11 Many East Porterville residents have been forced to reply on portable showers since wells began running dry two years ago and Caledonia Lopez converse in front of their homes in Porterville Tapia and Lopez have running water in their homes 11/11 East Porterville residents take in the evening air State officials hope to build a municipal water system to restore running water to homes in the community Print reporting from EAST PORTERVILLE after Adela Ramos Arellano’s pump first began to sputter and wheeze the 37-year-old field worker would return from a day spent laboring beneath the blazing sun to a home with no water an unincorporated area in Tulare County that claims about 12% of the state’s failed wells No fewer than nine government agencies and nonprofit organizations have had a hand in helping the community which drew international media attention for its exceptional suffering in the fourth year of California’s drought But residents and even some government officials say progress has been painstakingly slow state officials sank $1.2 million into a new well that remains untapped because of quarreling among government agencies the drought continues to punish the people of East Porterville some residents have to use portable showers in a church parking lot and dump a bucket of water into their toilets to flush In bureaucrats’ latest and most ambitious attempt to help state officials are preparing to build a municipal water system for East Porterville They want to connect 500 homes by the end of the year and ultimately deliver safe drinkable water to all 1,750 parcels here by the end of 2017 “We’ll have to see if they come through with their promise,” Ramos Arellano said in Spanish The nearby city of Porterville spent much of 2014 delivering water to fill people’s plastic which had mostly been donated by dairies and were unsuitable to drink from Residents relied on bottled water — at first donated but even getting that going proved difficult did not fall neatly into traditional state grants and there was no blueprint outlining exactly how to deliver potable water to such a large area “In any typical disaster you have something you can see manager of the Tulare County Office of Emergency Services “We have a basic emergency management structure … a framework As bureaucrats puzzled over the possibilities Ramos Arellano’s family had to haul water in by the bucket Every other day they trekked to the fire station for a refill because the deliveries did not come often enough The county worked with nonprofit organizations and used state disaster funding to install massive green tanks that could hold thousands of gallons of drinkable water and be connected to a home’s plumbing Those tanks now consume more than 160 frontyards Families say they have learned to monitor the thin red band that slides down their tank’s PVC pipe as water inside dwindles dirty dishes pile up and toilets fill until the water hauler comes rumbling down the street “These families need so much more help than a tank,” said Roman Hernandez has watched people visit his church’s parking lot to sign up for bottled water or use the mobile showers Drill more wells — or at least get water from the one that has already been drilled (()=>{const e=document.getElementById("yt-img-Q5fPBm7DPRw");e&&e.addEventListener("load",(t=>{t.target.naturalWidth<=120&&(e.parentNode.children[0].srcset=e.parentNode.children[1].srcset=e.src)}),{once:!0})})() Many residents of East Porterville have been without running water over the past two years the county and the state agreed to construct a well using $1.2 million from the California Department of Water Resources but infighting trumped people’s desperate need for water The county had agreed to sell the well to the city of Porterville which had staff members who could operate it county and state disagreed on who should get water from the project The dispute ultimately led the state to pull out of the discussions and draw up plans for a facility where water haulers could fill up without involving the city Porterville reacted by cutting off Tulare County’s access to water from its municipal system The county then had to scramble to find new water sources to fill the green tanks in residents’ yards the well has remained hidden and untapped at the end of a dirt road near the spot where this city’s mini-malls give way to endless alfalfa The bickering among agencies is beside the point for residents like Guillermina Andrade stepped gingerly around dozens of boxes and buckets scattered and stacked on the floor of her modest home The boxes hold jugs of Sparkletts water for drinking; the buckets hold tank water for dishes Andrade stood in the shower and demonstrated her routine; it is the same whether she is flushing the toilet or trying to bathe: Scoop If everything goes according to the state’s plan sometime this year construction crews will tear up Andrade’s street install miles of water mains and ask her to sign an agreement that will make her a customer of the city of Porterville As a result of the multi-agency tangle over the well the Department of Water Resources sought a more aggressive and permanent solution Frustrated officials decided they would build a municipal water system for the people of East Porterville themselves Many East Porterville residents have been forced to reply on portable showers since wells began running dry two years ago pumping water through newly laid piping to about 500 homes in East Porterville and a portion of Porterville The state is currently spending about $500,000 a month on the tank and bottled water programs is in charge of a longer-term plan to install fire hydrants create water storage facilities and hook up the remaining 1,250 homes in East Porterville as early as the end of 2017 “There are a million ways this can go wrong,” said Greg Farley drought manager for the Water Resources Department “This is like putting in a water system for a whole city in a year giving them a voice and securing their trust could also prove difficult Federal data suggests that more than a third of the population falls below the poverty line; about 75% of the community is Latino; many don’t speak English And the federal data does not count the hundreds of people who lack proper immigration authorization living in East Porterville Community and nonprofit leaders say many of East Porterville’s immigrants have been reluctant to sign up for government assistance Some parents have worried that if they admit that their homes are without water And county officials say they are still struggling to get renters on the water tank program in part because landlords don’t want code-enforcement officers to visit and discover violations “There’s a lot of fear out there right now,” said Ryan Jensen of the Visalia-based nonprofit Community Water Center “The voice that’s missing at that table is East Porterville itself.” a steady flow of locals stopped at an outpost on Plano Street handed volunteers their punch cards and loaded bottled water into the trunks of their cars One man said he was unaware of any state plan to build a water system Another said he was concerned that if he agrees to hook up to the city’s water system engineers will cap his well and officials will limit how much city water he can use residents recently formed the group East Porterville for Water Justice and now he recognizes neighbors who are also out of water when he runs into them around town Surmay moved his family from San Jose to East Porterville where he could buy land and fulfill his California dream for just $50,000 and the postman even had enough money to buy another property on the west side of town Surmay was on vacation with his family when a neighbor called his wife with “bad news.” he unwittingly began what has become a familiar sequence for people here: He hooked up to a generous neighbor’s working well and got a 300-gallon container What he did not do was abandon his house — not when the roses wilted not when a banker suggested it might be best He did not leave even though he owned that other property on the west side of town — a house with running water hooked into the city’s system this house in East Porterville “is my first love,” he said So he modified his mortgage and bet big on the state “There is a solution for everything,” he said matt.stevens@latimes.com Twitter: @ByMattStevens Brittny Mejia and Marisa Gerber and Times researcher Scott J San Andreas fault ‘locked, loaded and ready to roll’ with big earthquake, expert says Grim Sleeper verdicts bring justice to forgotten victims of serial killer, families say Inside North Korea’s Children’s Palace, a reporter finds children turning into robotic grown-ups California Subscribe for unlimited access Site Map LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio Recently El Niño has been making its presence known a bit A series of storms there has rapidly filled some reservoirs – the one at Lake Shasta is actually above average for this time of year But what does this mean for California's ongoing drought? We return to the Central Valley town of East Porterville a place that's been hit especially hard by the drought emergency manager for Tulare County where East Porterville is located a program of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism Severe drought conditions have become so harsh in Central California that dry wells have become commonplace The lack of running water has plagued East Porterville an unincorporated Tulare County community leaving scores of family homes without working wells In this report FM89 Reporter Ezra David Romero visits the community and finds a dry river dry wells and people whose basic necessities are threatened. For Andrea and Kevin Zousino the drought has become too much to handle They’re out in front of the East Porterville Fire Station filling two 40 gallon drums with non-potable water since their 80 foot private well dried up in August “We seen a little dirt in the toilet and then in the sink when we ran the water,” Zousino says “So we knew something was going on and then I went to go take a shower there was little twinkles of water and nothing and nothing.” The couple is considering packing up their rusted Suburban and moving out of the community Andrea says she knew it was only a matter of time before the water underneath her home was no more “Everybody on our block there well’s gone dry except for one person The very first one that’s gone dry was like six months ago We knew we were probably going to be next.” The Zousinos aren’t alone in the community’s thirst for water Around 1,000 of the town’s 7,300 people have no water flowing from their taps This unincorporated part of Tulare County is surrounded on three sides by the City of Porterville with a population of over 50,000 The people who live in Porterville have many things East Porterville doesn’t including running water sidewalks This little town has become Ground Zero for drought in the west News agencies from across the globe flocked to the Valley this summer to report on the town with no water Even the Weather Channel reported on the town But the region’s struggle with water isn’t new East Porterville sits on a tributary of the South Fork of the Tule River flowing out of a reservoir called Lake Success The river at one time emptied into Tulare Lake which was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi water is usually let out of the reservoir down the river split into channels and slowly recharges the aquifer Longtime East Porterville homeowner Donna Johnson has played a key role in supplying drinking water to the town zebra glasses and tarnished gold bangles on her wrists -- and her 19-year-old helper show me around the parched town very dry offshoot of the Tule River,” Johnson says “This feeds a lot of wells in this area and it’s been dry for over a year and a half.” Johnson is 72 years old and a self-proclaimed water warrior After her private well went dry in June and rumors of more dead wells circulated she went door-to-door in East Porterville to find out exactly how big the problem was As the reports came in Johnson whose mother was a nurse says her biggest fear was a health scare brought on by the lack of water “When I went home to home some of them were drinking water that looked like yellow and red,” Johnson says “Some of them got desperate and they knew they had water that wasn’t good so they started drinking it And I thought how is this going to be rectified.” So she took it on herself to deliver water to each home with a dry well “Some people would be a little afraid to talk to me and I’d say I’m just here to give you water “And then they’d be so grateful for it and they’d say somebody came It wasn’t until the local newspaper ran an article that said she was gathering water that she saw an outpouring from the community But even with growing numbers and countless calls to agencies across the region Johnson saw little aid from the City of Porterville and Tulare County “It’s like just hitting a brick wall every few minutes and I called the Red Cross and they said they were aware of the issue and I said but don’t you come out when people have emergencies,” Johnson says “The statement I got was that the counties aware of it And I thought oh my God what am I going to do now.” It wasn’t until last month that Tulare County realized that the health of East Porterville was at risk and began to hand out bottled water and non-potable water in the community Andrew Lockman heads the County of Tulare Office of Emergency Services He and his team had been mapping the number of homes without water in East Porterville since January “What we’re seeing here in East Porterville is the highest density of percentage of private wells in the county that have gone dry,” Lockman says “So when we started with 182 homes we actually finished with over 300 homes." He says without rain the river bed running through this community will remain dry dropping the aquifer under these homes even lower He drives from Visalia to East Porterville a couple times a week It’s his job to make sure this place is free of widespread disease and prevent loss of life “The simplest form of is that if you don’t have drinking water you will eventually pass away,” Lockman says “That’s why we’ve been trying to push out clean safe bottled water and trying to help those without a source of water at least with some non-potable water so they can take care of their basic sanitary needs.” is still going door-to-door with bottled water in her chrome colored F250 with her 19-year-old water recruit I’m Donna I hear you are out of water,” Johnson says And even though the river bed is barren and wells are dry in East Porterville it’s quite possible that Johnson is really the river Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency as wells across the state began to run dry This just two years after California became the first state to legally recognize water as a human right thousands of residents remain without water as the state estimates 2,000 wells have run dry permanent relief has still been slow to arrive a solution finally came to one of Tulare County’s hardest hit communities—but it wasn’t easy even the simplest activities require planning Just ask Leonicio Ramirez of East Porterville a farm worker who picks oranges and grapes he didn’t have running water in the house where he lives with his wife and three children he’d drive to one of his sons’ houses to fill up 50-gallon drums of water They’d heat that water on the stove and haul it into the bathroom to bathe says they’d plug the drain in the bathtub so they could reuse the bathwater on their plum and pomegranate trees That was the Ramirezes’ reality for three years The state is connecting East Porterville to the public water system of nearby Porterville—and the Ramirezes’ home was first daughter Tania Ramirez opened a spigot outside her home The cheers and applause that erupted represent more than joy and relief; they were also the sound of collaboration and compromise East Porterville is small—about 7000 people—and yet this project took years and involved negotiations between three state agencies city officials and a handful of advocacy groups The drought has been a slow-moving disaster in East Porterville Neighbors relied on each other for a while So-called “water angels” made water deliveries The tally of dried wells ticked higher and higher until about a third of this unincorporated community was without water State assemblymember Devon Mathis came into office in late 2014 and he says he was shocked when he saw East Porterville And when you’re seeing that in your hometown we’re one of the richest economies in the world we’ve got about 2,000 wells dry,” says Eric Lamoureux of the state Office of Emergency Services anywhere between 500 and 700 of those wells were here in East Porterville The greatest concentration of impacts has been here.” finding solutions and money has been challenging While residents have awaited long-term fixes the state has provided water bottle delivery services as well as community showers and emergency water tanks installed outside homes But Lamoureux says those were stopgap measures simply buying time until the state found permanent solutions “We’ve never experienced any conditions in California this severe,” he says “So everything we’ve done to address the emergency and develop a long-term solution has been from scratch.” This from-scratch solution involves taking roughly 1,800 homes and hooking them up to Porterville’s municipal water system and officials expect the whole community to be consolidated by the end of 2017 It’s unclear how much it’ll cost in total; state officials estimate the first round of 500 homes emergency water services cost over $7.5 million each year in East Porterville alone Jessi Snyder watches the proceedings from a tent in the Ramirezes’ front yard She’s a community development specialist with Self-Help Enterprises one of the groups who’s been connecting East Porterville residents with emergency water services “I’m thrilled,” she says about the consolidation “This is a very very very happy beginning.” She says homeowners won’t need to pay a dime to consolidate homeowners must sign a contract agreeing to someday be annexed by Porterville “You then become a city resident,” Snyder says “which means you have access to city services like police and dog catcher and sewer and trash pickup and all of that stuff.” Property tax wouldn’t necessarily increase but residents would see higher utility bills and more sales tax at East Porterville businesses Homeowners who choose not to consolidate will lose out on emergency water services politicians and officials were instrumental in getting water to East Porterville But Ryan Jensen of the Community Water Center says none of this would have happened if residents themselves hadn’t come together and spoken up “When this community started to get organized and really solicit assistance from their decisionmakers that’s when it came to the attention of local media it started to be painfully obvious that this is a human rights issue and it absolutely should not be happening in the state of California in 2016.” no one solution will work for every thirsty community PORTERVILLE – Norma Sanchez took a quick break from watering her East Porterville front yard bent the garden hose and reflected on years of being without reliable water. pressure and along with it problems with the new delivery system residents waited so long to get “There are some problems with the water from city system,” she said the water leaves a tar-like residue ring in the pot Sanchez continues to buy bottled water. "We are regularly reviewed by the [California Department of Water Resources] We don't anticipate changes to the water quality." who has lived in East Porterville for nearly five decades said she is still using bottled water to cook and drink in addition to the $60 monthly bill she now pays for municipal water — up from the $40 she was paying That’s a cost that can’t be avoided “Water is needed for everything,” she said Sanchez is among several East Porterville residents who were recently hooked up to the municipal water system Porterville officials said nearly 800 properties have been connected and more will be added soon the Department of Water Resources announced 755 homes had been connected There are 1,100 homes eligible to be connected to the city's main line East Porterville became the national epicenter of the devastation caused by fives years of drought there were 1,600 domestic well failures reported to county officials most of them clustered in East Porterville East Porterville families were left taking showers at nearby schools But there are more issues. Not all East Porterville residents had their wells dry up Others have had to deal with dirty water. Araceli Villanueva and her family's well dried up and struggle was securing water Villanueva said her family used plastic barrels to transport water home where the liquid was used sparingly in an attempt to make it last “We didn’t water outdoors,” she said “Just now our plants are coming back.” Villanueva said her family’s struggle ended about a year ago She was among the first East Porterville residents to be connected “We asked to be hooked up to the city’s system,” she said But there may be a reason her bill doesn't match Sanchez's Villanueva and her family are still practicing the same water-conservation methods they used before connecting to the city's system It’s a different story for Jaime Cruz The home’s well didn’t run dry but the landlord decided to connect to the system but now I have another bill,” she said. Sanchez said she was told the monthly bill for those who connect to the municipal system would be about $30 Sanchez said a relative received a water bill for $120 And while the water pressure is better and the municipal system provides a more reliable source “I don’t drink water from the faucet,” she said Lollis said there are plans to add capacity to the city's system to ensure all East Porterville customers can be serviced one well has been completed while two more are under construction one water tank will be included in the new system The water delivery system belongs to the state the 15 miles of new pipeline will likely be turned over to the city Jose Valera said she has decided to wait on connecting to the city’s system still works and is shows no sign of slowing down a domestic well at Valera’s home dried up and he commissioned a second one they came and told me about connecting to the city system,” he said Valera said he feels it would be a waste of money if he didn’t keep using the water pump he paid for “If we have another five years of drought Some residents said they debating connecting. “We haven’t had any problems,” said Stephanie Peters “But it is sad when you send your daughter to take a shower she can’t finish because they cut off the service.” Peters said the system is disconnected when workers come out to connect homes When the East Porterville resident agreed to be connected to the system they also signed an agreement that makes them subject to annexation East Porterville is also located in the Urban Development Boundary Lollis said the city is interested in adding East Porterville residents right away Dennis England, Water Resource Program director said the county needed to jump in and help East Porterville families. "These are our residents," she said. State and municipal agencies then joined and the project took shape "It took everybody to get this done," she said. More: Ag Secretary talks water, trade, regulation with farmers More: Trump considers sending more water to California farmers More: Tulare will hoard water after drought fears More: Monson water system nearly completed; Sultana service district takes over Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times School locker rooms have become doubly important in one Valley community hit hard by the water shortage There are countless students coming back to school with no water at home Schools in East Porterville are stepping up to make sure all their students are taken care of.EAST PORTERVILLE (KFSN) -- There are countless students coming back to school with no water at home Schools in East Porterville are stepping up to make sure all their students are taken care of Students are already facing their first tests at Granite Hills High School in East Porterville challenges aren't just in the classroom "I have kids who have no water at all and it's a struggle for them in the classroom They have had to adapt in different ways that none of the rest of us have had to adapt," science teacher Diane Wagner said Wagner leads a group of students to help get water and food to families in their community "I think the best thing a teacher can do is letting the students know what's available for them," Wagner said Student Leslie Ontiveros reminds us there are fixes for a dry well and I'm just wondering oh my goodness how much more of a struggle it's going to be for her if she does end up having to buy one of those water tanks?" Ontiveros said Granite Hills now opens its locker rooms early each morning so students can shower before class "We've all stepped up to this challenge," coach and teacher Rich Lambie said Lambie says the drought emergency has brought the school and community closer If a student's well isn't dry yet there's still that underlying fear of "what if?" "We're all living in the same place It's not just one person trying to get water; its thousands," student Yazil Iniguez said That's why the school will continue to do what it can to help its students and their families "We're all praying for rain and hoping El Nino comes through," Lambie said There are also resources available from Tulare County Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information Calif.—Bulmario Tapia Madrigal doesn’t want to shower in a stream of dirt He doesn’t want to cook with bottled water or wonder if he has enough water to clean the diabetes wounds on his feet But since his well went dry three months ago Lightning sparked Porterville's 800-plus acre blaze one of three blazes firefighters are working to contain heading over the weekend Tulare County's largest active fire, the Success Fire, is located east of Porterville and is 90% contained as of Sunday evening "Firefighters will continue to work through the night for 100% containment while taking advantage of the cooler temperatures; Mop up within fire containment lines will continue Forward progress on the fire has been stopped Crews are working today bolstering containment lines and mopping up the fire perimeter," Sunday night's press release from CAL Fire Tulare Unit reads Please stay cautious of fire crews and equipment in the area of the fire." California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Ventura County Fire and the Office of Emergency Services have all helped in this weeks containments efforts Firefigresponded to reports of wildland fire at around 1:15 a.m on Success Valley Road and Reservation Road on Friday A Wednesday night social media post from the National Weather Service Hanford Twitter account stated: “A few dry thunderstorms are possible in the Sierra Nevada and Kern County desert Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening Dry thunderstorms can ignite wildfires with lightning but will produce little or no rainfall to put the wildfires out,” National Weather Service Hanford Twitter account posted one day.” six fire crews, two water tenders and 12 overhead personnel have assisted in extinguishing efforts Cal Fire reported one injury and no structures damaged Cooler temperatures could creep through Visalia this week helping firefighters contain the blaze. The Nettle Fire a second Tulare fire also reported Thursday The fire is located east of the Success Fire A third fire located north of Woodlake was also reported Thursday. The 11-acre Antelope Fire is 70% contained About one-third of the state is in exceptional drought Tulare County Farm Bureau’s executive director said “Tough times are coming” when discussing Tulare County’s drought conditions and the impacts and consequences of the irrigation supplies being restricted to nearly zero will have far-reaching implications." USA TODAY and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Residents in a valley community with one of the highest concentrations of dry wells will soon be getting some relief. For years residents in East Porterville have watched their wells dry up in the drought forcing them to rely on water delivery and tanks the state of California is offering to pay to hook up the tiny unincorporated community to the much larger city of Porterville Eric Lamoureux with the Office of Emergency Services says the state will make an initial $10 million dollar investment to begin hooking up the roughly 1,800 homes in East Porterville The permanent connection to the City of Porterville water system is the long term solution for residents who are out of water throughout East Porterville,” Lamoureux says The state plans to hook up as many as 500 homes by the end of the summer Residents will not have to pay for the cost of hooking their homes up to the water system if they sign an agreement with the state That money will be sent to local non-profits who will pay for the work Landlords will be responsible for deciding whether or not to hook up their rental properties The state is allowed to force the consolidation of services under a law passed last year Lamoureux says this effort is the largest ever use of the law “There have been a considerable number of similar projects of a much smaller magnitude that have occurred throughout Tulare County There are some similar connection projects underway in Fresno County But nothing on this scale and magnitude,” Lamoureux says There will be a community meeting about hooking up to the Porterville water system Thursday night at Granite Hills High School starting at 6. (KBAK/KBFX) - Many Tulare County homes in East Porterville are left without any water as a result of California's historic drought.Low winter rainfall resulted in shallow rivers and the Tule River that supplies water to the wells in Porterville is running low.Now nearly 300 people are left without any water and Tulare County has stepped in to help."We received direction early last week from county administration to come out and conduct an emergency operation We distributed 15,552 gallons of drinking water to the community," said Andrew Lockman manager of Tulare County Office of Emergency Services it is all funded under the county's general fund."Residents are now considering moving out of California completely."We're actually looking for a place to go my kids had to wear dirty clothes to school this morning."She said the problem has been ongoing for months now."This isn't a good situation not for me but for my kids," said Baker "The cooler is not working with no pump it's hard."Many residents of East Porterville are now relying on a 5,000 gallon tank of non-potable water The tank is provided by Tulare County and is located in front of Tulare County Fire Department Station 20.Some residents are taking matters into their own hands."It just kind of became a job 'I'm delivering water,' and I guess my head just went 'I got to get up and do this,'" said Johnson.She volunteers to deliver water to homes and businesses in need She took out a loan to pay for all of the water and has been doing it for months now.She is one of the many people affected by the drought but that does not stop her from helping out those in need."I'm grateful It just makes me grateful that they're getting this water," said Johnson because some of the situations are so sad right now."County officials will continue to look for solutions but right now many people are just hoping for a great amount of winter rainfall and more funding (KFSN) -- A magnitude 3.2 earthquake shook near Porterville Tuesday morning The USGS map shows that the quake happened near Highway 190 and Lake Success No injuries or damage have been reported at this time For more information, click here The lack of rain has hit all of California hard but perhaps no place more than in Tulare County home to 60 percent of the residential wells that have gone dry in the entire state As Valley Public Radio’s Ezra David Romero reports the county is creating a model for drought relief that the rest of the state can follow Denise England’s colleagues have a nickname for her “Several years ago I worked in solid waste and there I was known as the trash diva “They said we have a new name for you now it’s going to be the water queen.” As the water resources program manager for Tulare County England connects state and federal funds to communities with water issues Last year the drought hit Tulare County hard with the number of dry household wells spiking in one month to 300 “Currently in Tulare County we have just over 1,000 dry private domestic wells and so those folks have the most urgent need because they are not part of a water system,” England says “If they have a dry well they have a dry house.” Most of the dry wells in the county are in the community of East Porterville but this year people’s wells across the region are plummeting It’s England’s job to come up with long term solutions for those with dry wells Maria Marquez lives in the tiny community of Highland Acres in Tulare County This once Dust Bowl era squatterville of 89 homes housed migrants from Oklahoma Only one home on Marquez’s street has a working well hoses run from that well to neighbors faucets the amount of water decreased and then sand started come out of the tap,” says Marquez Today she has running water thanks to a pressurized tank provided through the nonprofit Self-Help Enterprises and Tulare County Her tank is about half full at the moment and is filled every 15 days But for Marquez the tank is a short term solution She is rallying her community together to gather support for a water system – a couple of strategically placed deep wells with lines to each home But that can take up to five years to create and is expensive Communities like Okieville need water ASAP “I hold the community meetings in my home because I want a public water system,” Marquez says That’s where the “Water Queen,” Denise England She, her team and nonprofit organizations across Tulare County are tallying the number of wells going dry and installing 15 water tanks a week for homeowners whose wells have gone dry At that rate it will take one year to put a patch on the problem It’s an unprecedented time where Tulare County is telling the state what it needs to do and changes are happening speedily which is nice because once we get the okay to do something we’re able to just go do it we’re not waiting on an agreement,” says England One of those changes has to do with landlords A month ago a landlord couldn’t apply for a free tank on a property he rented and did not live on “The struggle we’ve been having in Tulare County is that landlords didn’t want to talk to the county officials, so that’s really what held us up,” says Eric Lamoureux is with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Now Tulare County is working on a process where a landlord has the option to take the free tank but has to pay for installation fees If the landlord can’t afford that and still wants the tank because landlords must be able provide water to renters If living conditions get really bad for renters then Tulare County will red tag homes But remember water tanks are still a short term solution England wants to see communities either linked into existing water systems in cities nearby or for isolated places like Okieville to create their own water systems “We’re sort of blazing the trail for the rest of California and I guess the nation,” says England. She hopes to approach the Governor’s office this summer with a plan to streamline the process so long term solutions for Valley communities with water issues won’t take five years or more to create some residents in the Central Valley city of East Porterville will have access to something special: a hot shower the county stepped in to provide parched residents with bottles of water However many remained without the water to bathe the simple pleasure of taking a hot shower is now within reach for residents of East Porterville provided by officials in Tulare County the county's manager of emergency services explains what measures his department has done to help residents and for how long they might have to continuing doing them Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker California's historic drought leaves nearly a thousand people without water Residents filled with dread when water stopped coming out of their taps A grandmother ends her retirement to help out neighbors who don't have water '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Adam Perez and his sister Mari Perez-Ruiz grew up helping their parents work in the fields something they never forgot as they went to college and began careers and the water crisis in East Porterville for such news outlets as Time Magazine and the New York Times Perez-Ruiz worked as a program organizer and manager in the Bay Area but decided to return to Tulare County “because if transformative change is going to happen for rural communities She co-founded the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance (CVEA) with long-time community activist Arturo Rodriguez in 2019 CVEA works with rural communities to access affordable housing To honor the diverse farmworker art and culture the two siblings and many community volunteers are putting together “Tierra Mia (My Land) Festival” on July 27 in Poplar crafts market and outreach all mixed into one,” Perez said Catrina Divinia from Bakersfield will show her catrinas and there will even be a horse trained to dance immigration services and pesticide clinics plus activities for children and a loteria (a classic Mexican game) The park will be covered with large canopies that have air conditioning The festival is designed for farm working families but Perez hopes others will attend to learn more about the communities that strive to exist so near larger towns Diverse culturesThe festival will be a soft opening for the new Nagi Daifallah Unity Park was a leader with the United Farm Workers who was killed during the 1973 grape strike The festival aims to spotlight the diversity of cultures in the farmworker community indigenous Mexican and Central Americans and Native Americans Perez says it’s important that the cultures and talents of the Central Valley become known He will show some of his photography exhibits at the festival “These stories get published on a website and sit there The people in the stories are not seeing it,” he said “Stories about farm workers show their faces covered to protect them at work After his photos in “The Town without Water” about East Porterville’s water crisis ran in Time Magazine “That was the first time I realized these stories could implement change,” Perez said I felt I had a responsibility to keep telling these stories.” A celebrationMuch of Perez’s photography has been about the Central Valley despite being deemed ‘essential,’ were living in crisis I wanted to bring this work back to farm working communities who were at the center of my stories,” he said He applied for a California Arts Grant with CVEA to create the Tierra Mia Festival that celebrates these communities that are hidden away despite producing much of the produce for the world wisdom and joy that is sowed in our rural farm communities that I believe is important to celebrate.” Last year he developed a free photography fellowship program to empower youth through storytelling They created 15 billboards that were displayed along local highways Why in Poplar?Poplar was defined as one of the rural and unincorporated communities “with no future” in the 1970-2023 Tulare County Housing report meaning that there has been little investment to improve drinking water Labor leader Dolores Huerta came and spoke about organizing farm workers for better conditions it was Filipino American farmworker Larry Itliong from Poplar who started the Delano grape strike and invited Cesar Chavez to participate When Mari Perez-Ruiz decided to come home and help rural communities she was advised to work with Arturo Rodriguez who had been advocating in Poplar for years “We wanted our organization to be different,” said Perez-Ruiz “We wanted to go to the root of the problem.” The CVEA was organized on a community development model which said those directly impacted are the experts in finding solutions and to never do for others what they can do for themselves The alliance has opened the Larry Itliong Resource Center found people jobs and is building an 80 single-family complex of homes in Poplar Perez hopes to make Tierra Mia an annual event and to create a collective to work on issues facing rural communities KQED Live Events PRX Podcast Garage Events Events Around the Bay Area Member Benefits with KQED Live Videos from KQED LiveWatch recordings of recent KQED Live events Featured That's My WordAn ongoing exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history See Senior Director of TV Programming Meredith Speight’s recommendations from this month’s KQED 9 Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift Tulare County installed these showers for residents of East Porterville The showers were used sparingly in the first week but have picked up as people spotted fliers about them (Ezra David Romero/KQED)Drought conditions in parts of California are now so harsh that it has become normal to turn on the tap and have no water coming out In the small San Joaquin Valley town of East Porterville more than 600 household wells went dry this summer leaving more than half the population without water “I’ve been without running water for the last three months,” says Gilberto Sandoval Sandoval’s age and bad leg have kept him from going very far to find water so he turned to neighbors “I use one of those store carts,” Sandoval says “fill it with jugs and walk in either direction and ask people ‘Will you give me water to take back home?’ ” the church across the street from his house got hold of a pallet of water bottles that Sandoval can use that until they run out But the last time he had a warm shower was more than a month ago at his daughter’s house the Tulare County Office of Emergency Services pulled up three flatbed trucks at Iglesia Emmanuel each truck carrying a portable building with rows of doors Open a door and you enter a room just big enough for a white fiberglass shower The water pouring from the showerheads comes from a hose connected to the water main in the neighboring city of Porterville The showers are funded with state and federal money with Tulare County’s emergency services office says hot showers are a health issue in this neighborhood “We recognized as the weather gets colder here in wintertime,” Lockman says “that folks taking baths and showers using water out of buckets -- when the ambient temperature was nice that works It does not work anymore in the winter.” Many residents live in trailers with failing roofs and have a hard time paying bills because of seasonal agricultural work Gilberto Sandoval lives in one of those homes He was coughing the day he spoke with The California Report and he says cold showers would worsen his health conditions “This program here is a good thing,” Sandoval says “I’m picking up trash in the back and then I’m gonna go and get a towel and a soap I’m gonna go into the shower.” Tulare County plans to run the showers for the next six months In the new year Lockman hopes to begin a household tank program since the drought isn’t showing signs of letting up Each applicant with a dry well will receive a tank where he or she can store potable water To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. (FOX26) — Multiple agencies battled a fire Monday afternoon near Success Drive and Springville Drive just east of Porterville [RELATED] Multiple agencies tackle large commercial fire in Selma The Tulare County Fire Department said crew members worked alongside those from the Porterville City Fire Department and Cal Fire to put out a grass fire in the Tule River According to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Fire officials say the flames burned 25 acres and the fire is now 100 percent contained The Tulare County Fire Department also mentioned that 30 structures were threatened but none were damaged They also mentioned that the voluntary evacuation order has been lifted for those nearby [RELATED]Wildfire burns 40 acres in Prather, currently 20% contained Officials say there have been no reported injuries and the cause of the fire remains under investigation low-income town that relies solely on private wells many families are forced to rely on deliveries Photographer Gabrielle Lurie has been documenting their plight — Hundreds of domestic wells in California’s drought-parched Central Valley farming region have run dry leaving many residents to rely on donated bottles of drinking water to get by Girl Scouts have set up collection points while local charities are searching for money to install tanks next to homes Officials truck in water for families in greatest need and put a large tank in front of the local firehouse for residents to fill up with water for bathing and flushing toilets About 290 families in East Porterville — a poor largely Hispanic town of about 7,000 residents nestled against the Sierra Nevada foothills — have said their shallow wells are depleted Officials say the rest of Tulare County has many more empty wells Other Central Valley counties also report pockets of homes with wells gone dry and no alternative water service “When you have water running in your house everything is OK,” said East Porterville resident Yolanda Serrato With California locked in its third year of drought and groundwater levels dropping residents and farmers have been forced to drill deeper and deeper to find water Lawmakers in Sacramento passed legislation to regulate groundwater pumping Jerry Brown signed into law this past week Brown signed an executive order that provides money to buy drinking water for residents statewide whose wells have dried up while also directing key state officials to work with counties and local agencies to find solutions for the shortages The State Water Resources Control Board had already allotted $500,000 to buy bottled water for East Porterville residents said Bruce Burton of the board’s Drinking Water Program say all they want is to get a glass of water from the kitchen sink making life challenging for her husband and three children they each have to fill a bucket from a 300-gallon tank in the front yard carry it inside and pour water over their heads with a cup East Porterville sits along the Tule River which starts high in the mountains and runs through the unincorporated town river water permeates the sandy soil under the community filling up wells as shallow as 30 feet deep Tulare County spokeswoman Denise England said East Porterville needs to get connected to the nearest water main in neighboring Porterville That could cost more than $20 million and take up to five years England said counting the number of dry wells is difficult because people don’t come forward fearing their children will be taken away if their home lacks a safe water source or they believe that their home would be condemned “We’re blindly feeling our way through this.” businesses and a religious group in Cincinnati along with parts of Kern and Fresno counties The California Legislative Analysts Office also released a new report addressing what the state can learn from the past drought from 2012-2016 which includes recommendations for how the state can better be prepared for the current drought And it’s not a new concept for people in Tulare County who dealt with unthinkable drought conditions from 2012 to 2016 we couldn’t flush the toilet,” said Cheryl Perine a Porterville resident whose family survived major drought conditions in 2014 They had to take out a $20,000 loan to build a brand new 300-foot well but the well took six months to build and the family went more than four months without running water The family also bought a port-a-potty and a canopy to use as a make-shift outdoor shower “And then we had a 30-gallon container sitting on the west side of the canopy and the sun would warm the water up enough for us to have warm water,” said Perine Fred Beltran is the vice president of the Porterville Area Coordinating Council, a non-profit organization supporting people through tough times low-income areas are more impacted by drought levels because the wells in those areas are usually not as deep And if those wells are near a larger property that well is going to take most of the water in that area “Everything should be in place so that they don’t have to recreate what we had to do back then,” said Beltran PACC played a huge role in helping the community get through the last drought that’s fine you can have drinking water,” said Beltran “But if you don’t have water inside the house you can’t bathe how do you know when you're running out of water “Open up the faucet in the house or the bathroom,” said Perine “The water will start spitting in sputtering that means there’s a lot of air in the line meaning the pump is not getting enough water to pump up the water into the house.” “I haven’t heard of anybody running out of water yet,” said Beltran that’s not to say that they haven’t already.” For people living in those exceptional drought areas who’s running out of water or whatever,” said Beltran “And they need to start gathering the information and have a hotline of some sort so that people can call it in and so that they can get help before it gets too far into this.” “Conservation is going to be crucial to seeing how long we can get through this thing,” said Beltran For the full report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, click here. and local charities are searching for money to install tanks next to homes largely Latino town of about 7,000 residents nestled against the Sierra Nevada foothills — have said their shallow wells are depleted The State Water Resources Control Board already had allotted $500,000 to buy bottled water for East Porterville residents Serrato’s well dried up nearly two months ago Tulare County spokeswoman Denise England said counting the number of dry wells is difficult because people don’t come forward either out of fear that their children will be taken away if their home lacks a safe water source or because they think their home would be condemned businesses and a religious group in Cincinnati have donated water to the community.