Last month the advocacy group Community Water Center, California State University, Fresno and the Pacific Institute, released the “Assessing water affordability” study. The study showed that Allensworth residents pay 4.3% of their household income for water; 3% for tap water and 1.3% for bottled water. The state affordability threshold is 2%. Allensworth has had water issues sense 1914 when arsenic was found in the town’s water supply.
According to the study “Throughout California, hundreds of
thousands of low income residents do not have access to potable drinking water
and wastewater services without paying cost prohibitive rates. Thus, reliable
and potable drinking water is not affordable or accessible for many
Californians.”
According to a Fresno Bee September 15, 2013 story,
nitrates from farm fertilizers, dairy waste, and sewage systems are slowly
polluting the San Joaquin Valley underground water supply.
