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Domestic water wells in the San Joaquin Valley are fragile. Many factors are making them go dry.

Many residents in rural California cannot drink water out of their kitchen faucets because it can be full of nitrates and other contaminates, according to the State Water Board
Marin Sintes
/
Unsplash
Many residents in rural California cannot drink water out of their kitchen faucets because it can be full of nitrates and other contaminates, according to the State Water Board

FRESNO, Calif — The last two years have been good water years for the Central Valley, but despite that, this summer some people across the Valley are still seeing their domestic water wells dry up.

These residents often rely on water wells for daily use because they live in more rural areas and are not connected to a water system.

Jesse Vad of the water news website SJV Water recently reported on the uptick of domestic wells drying up. He joined KVPR’s Elizabeth Arakelian for a conversation about this problem, and said the sustained higher temperatures this summer have been a big contributing factor.

Listen to this interview in the player on this page.

A Valley native, Elizabeth earned her bachelor's degree in English Language Literatures from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her master's degree in journalism from New York University. She has covered a range of beats. Her agriculture reporting for the Turlock Journal earned her a first place award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Jonathan Linden is a podcast producer at KVPR. Born and raised in Riverside, he's a Southern California native. Jonathan's passion for public radio began at a young age when his brother would play NPR while driving him home from middle school. He earned his B.A. in journalism from Biola University in 2019.