Dirty Tap Water Worries Residents of Migrant Housing

By Leslie Albrecht, Merced Sun-Star, Calif.

Jul. 16–LOS BANOS — For three years, the tap water at a Los Banos farmworker housing complex has been unsafe to drink. Now residents there hope shining a public spotlight on the problem will jump-start a solution.

At tonight’s Los Banos City Council meeting, residents of the Rafael L. Silva Family Farmworker Housing Center on Henry Miller Road will ask the council to back an effort to get safe drinking water to flow from their taps.

Right now, tap water at the complex has too much arsenic, copper and radiation in it for drinking. Instead, every unit at the complex is equipped with a five-gallon dispenser of bottled water for drinking and cooking. But the residents use tap water to bathe and wash their clothes.

Some residents at the complex, which is home to almost 200 farmworkers, say the tap water has given them rashes and made their hair fall out. Others say the water hasn’t made them sick, but it has left residue in their sinks and a dry, dirty feeling on their skin.

Jeff Palsgaard, county director of environmental health, said residents at the center should be concerned about contaminants in the tap water. But because residents only live at the center for six months at a time during the growing season, they’re probably not being exposed to enough contamination to lead to health problems, he said.

Palsgaard said his department will investigate residents’ complaints about rashes and hair loss to determine the source of those problems.

Meanwhile, the Merced County Housing Authority, the public agency that runs the farmworker complex, says it’s working to find a solution to the water problem.

The farmworker center’s tap water comes from a well. Housing Authority officials say they could provide clean water to the center if they could hook up to a nearby water line that’s owned by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The department’s line supplies employee housing and other buildings at the nearby wildlife area the department manages.

But fish and game officials say the 6-inch line they own is too old and too small to hook up to the center.

As it stands now, the state fire marshal has said the line doesn’t have enough capacity to effectively fight fires in the wildlife area, said Jeffrey Single, an environmental program manager with fish and game.

Now center residents hope pressure from the city of Los Banos will persuade fish and game to share its line.

But that solution is only a temporary one. The Housing Authority is also applying for state money to build an entirely new water line that would connect the farmworker complex to the city’s water system.

The center’s tap water hasn’t been drinkable since its doors opened in 2006, said Don Borgwardt, housing authority development manager.

The Housing Authority has spent about $60,000 to $80,000 total supplying bottled water to the complex. A new water line would cost $750,000 to $1 million, said Borgwardt.

Even if the Housing Authority wins state funding to build a new water line, it would be at least a year before the line would be up and running, said Palsgaard.

In the meantime, farmworker residents like the De La Torre family are making do with bottled water. Candy De La Torre, 14, said she doesn’t think the tap water in her family’s apartment is making her or her parents sick, but it does leave her skin feeling dry and dirty.

“I want to have clean water so we can drink and not be worried about the water,” she said.

Reporter Leslie Albrecht can be reached at (209) 385-2484 or lalbrecht@mercedsun-star.com.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Merced Sun-Star, Calif.

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