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Don't Drink the Water | special report
Day 1 | An unquenched thirst
Day 2 | Good water gone bad
Day 3 | Awash in red tape
Craig Kohlruss/The Fresno Bee
Every few days, Valeriana Alvarado of Tooleville loads up empty 5-gallon water jugs to refill in nearby Exeter so her family will have clean water to drink.
John Walker/The Fresno Bee
From Orosi, the snow atop the Sierra looks clean and pure. But by the time snowmelt reaches the town's wells, it's tainted with nitrates.
Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee
Second-grader Daniela Saldana, 7, sips water from the bottom of a paper cup outside the cafeteria during recess at Stone Corral Elementary in Seville. The school has two water dispensers on the school grounds and one in each classroom.
TOOLEVILLE -- From her living room window, Valeriana Alvarado can see the Friant-Kern Canal, where pristine snowmelt flows to farm fields. She wouldn't mind getting some of that sparkling irrigation water at the drafty two-room trailer where she lives with eight family members.
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OROSI -- On a crisp winter day, look east from Orosi for a world-class view of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. The snow melts, rushes down to reservoirs and eventually turns farmlands green. But somewhere between the snowpack and the countryside, a dangerous change takes place.
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SEVILLE -- Turn on the tap in Seville. Sand might pour into sinks, toilets and shower stalls. Children aren't allowed to use drinking fountains at school. Water pipes lie cracked and exposed in a murky irrigation ditch. It doesn't take a water engineer to see something has gone terribly wrong here.
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Also online: Videos / Fresno Beehive / CentralValleyMoms.com / Clovis Independent / Fresno Famous / Vida en el Valle / Sierra Star
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