An entire California town is without running water as the state suffers a continued drought, while heatwaves push temperatures into triple digits.
Teviston, a rural community located in the San Joaquin Valley's Turea County, has been struggling since June when the only functioning well quit working. Since that time, more than 700 residents have been without running water.
During a virtual conference to address the drought on Monday, Teviston Community Services District board member Frank Galaviz said sand in the well's pump might be an indicator of it breaking down.
Galavis told The Fresno Bee, "It's day to day" for the people of Teviston. The town is currently waiting on essential parts to repair the well, but some fear the well may have run out of water.
In the meantime, residents are relying on bottled water and friends and family from neighboring communities.
The district has been providing some bottled water and five-gallon jugs to its residents. Tanker trucks deliver water from a town 23 miles away to fill the town's two water storage tanks.
A temporary pump was recently installed. However, it only provides enough water pressure for residents to flush their toilets.
"It's just barely enough, and in some cases, not enough. Some families are larger than others," Martin Correa, Teviston Water Board Director, said.
But the state could offer Teviston aid in the future. In May, California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a $5.1 billion for drought preparedness. In it, the package offers $1.3 billion toward the funding of drinking and wastewater infrastructure, especially for towns like Teviston.
In November of 2017, the community faced similar problems of water shortages.
"In the last drought, we learned that local and state drought responses were not coordinated. Families in distress didn't know who to call, and the state was scrambling to provide support. We don't want to see emergencies continue to happen, so we're urging the state to be better prepared for drought this time," said Erick Orellana, policy advocate for Community Water Center.
For the rural residents living in the Central Valley, funding from Newsom's proposed plan can't come soon enough.
"We know how difficult it is in the Central Valley to be without water, to have to deal with 100-plus degrees, and many of these families also having to deal with power outages and swamp coolers," said California Democrat Senator Melissa Hurtado. "Sometimes it feels like we don't get listened to; we don't get heard."
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