This story was originally published by SJV Water.
East Orosi residents were told that work on their failing sewer system could begin as early as next month. But it’s not soon enough.
“I wish we could put a rush on whatever needs to be done,” said resident Angie Moreno.
“These people have waited too, too long already. We go to meeting after meeting and hear ‘We’re waiting for this and we’re waiting for that.’ We need someone to get out there and run and get all the documents together and let’s make this work.
“We want this to get moving.”
Residents have suffered sewage overflows, improper billing and other problems for years.
Moreno spoke to a small crowd of residents who gathered on the patio of a church with representatives of the state Water Resources Control Board April 17.
State officials were in East Orosi to explain that the Tulare County Resource Management Agency (RMA) will be appointed as the administrator of the wastewater system, which serves about 1,000 people.
And, they said, they want quick action as well.
“We are communicating to our executive team how important it is to get these documents reviewed and approved as quickly as possible,” said Stephanie Torres of the Division of Water Quality.
Torres and representatives of the Water Board’s Department of Financial Assistance spoke with residents of the tiny eastern Tulare County community amidst a cacophony of barking dogs and crowing roosters.
They also asked for feedback from the community through May 7. They hope to incorporate that feedback in future operations of the sewer system, which was deemed to have “demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse” in a letter sent to the former board president of the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) in February.
Residents of East Orosi have relied for decades on the East Orosi (CSD) for drinking water and sewer services.
But nitrate contamination in the community’s two wells, along with a lack of funding and infighting on the CSD board led to state intervention in 2020 when the Water Board began providing residents bottled water.
The board also mandated the larger nearby city of Orosi to consolidate with East Orosi and appointed the Tulare County RMA to service and oversee East Orosi’s drinking system until that consolidation is complete.
The state lacked authority to intervene in the town’s wastewater problems, however, until last summer when AB 805 was passed allowing the Water Board to take the system away from the CSD and put it under authority of the Tulare County RMA.
This is all new territory for the Water Board as it establishes processes and procedures under AB 805, which is why the state is still seeking community feedback.
“Thank you for your patience,” Torres said to those gathered in person and online at the April 17 meeting. “This is a government process. If you have a heart, or time to write a quick positive line, even that is helpful. This is our first time too and maybe there is a way in the future to make it faster.”
Tulare County grants and resources manager Denise England said she believes the path is pretty clear thanks to the agreement already in place governing the drinking water side of things.
She told the crowd that while the county awaits funding for the wastewater system, it has stepped in to keep it afloat by paying off the district’s more than $91,000 debt to the Cutler-Orosi Wastewater Treatment Facility. The county has also set money aside to replace lift station pumps, clean the sewer collection system and to pump holding tanks.
“But we can’t do any physical work until we have authority to do so,” she said. “The goal is the sewer system would run as designed until a longer term solution is identified.”
Torres added that she appreciates the advocacy of groups such as Community Water Center and Self-Help Enterprises, members of which were on hand at the meeting.
“Everyone is coming together to help,” she said. “It’s difficult when it is an impact to your daily life, especially with water.”