Unsafe drinking water a huge problem in rural California. State regulators are to blame

California officials love to proclaim how the state would be the world’s fifth-largest economy if it was its own nation.

But there is one particular problem dulling that sheen. Far too many people in this rich, tech-savvy state don’t have clean, safe drinking water coming out of their home taps. In fact, it is not a stretch to say the situation in certain locales is worse than what is found in some developing nations.

The most acute problems involving polluted water or water-system failures occur in the San Joaquin Valley and the Inland Empire. Just last month wells failed in East Orosi and Tooleville in Tulare County, leaving the low-income residents of those towns without water during triple-digit heat.

It is an issue that the state auditor’s office took up in its most recent report. The July 26 audit was focused on the state Water Resources Control Board, the agency overseeing the quality of California’s water.

As Californians continue to deal with the crisis of drought, the audit could not be more timely. Among the highlights:

▪ Nearly 1 million Californians are delivered water that exceeds maximum levels for harmful contaminants.

▪ That dirty water gets delivered by 370 water agencies. Over 400 more water systems, serving another 1 million customers, are on the brink of failing.

▪ The water board takes much too long to process funding requests so the agencies can make repairs. Five years ago, it took state regulators an average of 17 months to review applications and grant funding. Now it takes 33 months.

Local examples

One of the water agencies caught up in the water board’s processing has been the Caruthers Community Services District. The audit notes how the district, supplying water for 2,500 people south of Fresno, has had a longstanding problem with arsenic in its water.

Arsenic is naturally occurring mineral, but too much of it can lead to cancer. The Caruthers district began working with the state in 2010 about how to address the contamination. Then, in 2016, the audit says the district submitted its application. The state did not approve it for another two years. The audit notes part of the delay was caused by the district taking longer on finalizing some details. The district now has an approved project and construction is under way.

Another example of unresponsive bureaucracy involves the Yosemite Unified School District in Oakhurst. The audit says the district applied in May 2015 for funding to deal with uranium and other pollutants in Yosemite High School’s water system. But the application did not get approved for three years. The audit says the water board early on flagged a problem with the application, but did not follow up for a year and a half.

A major problem plaguing the water board is that it has no internal measurements for how responsive it is to applicants. Nor does the agency do a good job of communicating with applicants on their projects.

And, citing an overwrought bureaucracy, the auditor notes that some reviews involve “as many as a dozen people — up to an including the deputy director.”

Get faster

The water board has issued $1.7 billion in grants and loans in the past five years. And in the last three years, the water board says its funding has reduced the number of Californians drinking unsafe water from 1.6 million to 934,000. But the water board admitted to the auditor that its application process must get simpler and faster.

Meanwhile, homes continue to get water that is unsafe to drink. Then there are the small water agencies with failing wells, like East Orosi. They literally don’t have water to deliver when their wells fail.

Two things must happen. First, the water board needs to take the auditor’s findings seriously and revamp how it does business. Specifically, it must pick up the pace on application approvals and streamline its processes. Second, the Legislature must hold the water board accountable for the fixes.

Otherwise, California’s poor water conditions in the Valley’s rural towns will remain. For the fifth-largest economy in the world, that is nothing to brag about.