Tulare Regional Medical Center to deliver water to Matheny Tract

Volunteers from Tulare Regional Medical Center and HealthCare Conglomerate Associates and will drive the streets of Matheny Tract to give each home five gallons of bottled drinking water.

Tap water in Matheny Tract, a low-income community south of Tulare, is contaminated with arsenic.

A plan to pipe clean water from Tulare’s municipal water system is slated to go into effect in a few weeks, but residents are still using bottled water for cooking and drinking,

The distribution will begin at 5:30 p.m. Mondayat Pratt Road and West Wade Avenue.

HealthCare Conglomerate Associates operates Tulare Regional Medical Center under contract. Its mobile unit, Wellness on Wheels, will lead the distribution with volunteers following in their cars.

“Helping others is an integral part of how this hospital and community work to care for others,” said Kathleen Johnson, vice president of marketing. “We are so pleased to be able to see these families through this time.”

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Tulare Regional Medical Center to deliver water to Matheny Tract."