Where: 7655 Foy Avenue, Ceres, CA
When: Wednesday, May 4, 10AM (press event followed by community tour)

The City of Ceres may be coming to the rescue of Monterey Park Tract. This community of about 150 people six miles south of Ceres has been warned for years against drinking their tap water, which is contaminated with nitrates and arsenic. For the past several months, consultants funded by state and county grant funds have been looking for a site to drill a new well, but have been unable to find anyplace near the community that is free of contamination.

Enter Ceres. While discussions between the two communities have just begun, some Ceres leaders have expressed support for providing water to Monterey Park Tract. "This community doesn’t have many options for safe drinking water," said Guillermo Ochoa who serves on the Ceres City Council. "If it can be done without cost to Ceres ratepayers, I think we have a duty to help our neighbors."

"We have been trying to get safe drinking water for our community for a long time" said Francisco Diaz, President of the Monterey Park Tract water board. "I’m really excited that we may have a solution."

A recent meeting between Ceres officials and public works staff, and Monterey Park water board and community members, their consultants and advocates from Clean Water Action, provided an opportunity to ask and answer questions. Responding to concerns that providing water to Monterey Park might affect Ceres’ water supply, Lee Fremming a consulting engineer working with the community said, "This is a very small community – only 40 homes and 150 people, we are talking about very small amount of water that these residents would need from the City of Ceres."

One outcome of that meeting is a planned tour of the tiny community for Ceres officials. That will happen on Wednesday, May 4, when Ceres officials will visit Monterey Park Tract with Virginia Madueno, a community organizer with Clean Water Action who has brokered the initial discussions between the communities.

"I’m very hopeful that this will work out," said Virginia. "We all have enough to do on a daily basis without having to worry about something as basic as drinking water. Safe drinking water should be a human right, not a constant struggle."

All involved cautioned that the problem will not be resolved soon. The County must complete feasibility studies and find funding for a new pipeline to the community. The Department of Public Health, the County and both communities will all have to sign off on a deal. "I know it’s not going to be easy," said Diaz. "But at least now we have some hope."

National Drinking Water Week takes place May 2-6.

Clean Water Action is a national advocacy organization with 85,000 California members whose mission is to develop strong grassroots coalitions, organizations and citizen leadership to address health, consumer, environmental and community problems.