Yes, this is the 21st century, and yes, we're in California. But in San Lucas, a small agricultural community near King City, it's not safe to drink the tap water.
About three years ago, testing by the County Health Department's Environmental Health Bureau showed nitrate levels exceeded both state and federal standards.
“We are requiring the use of bottled water or water from an approved source for drinking or cooking,” a July 7, 2011 notice from the Health Department reads. “Research is being done to find another water source.”
That research has taken years, but a solution—at least a temporary one—is finally close.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board analyzed the nitrate levels, and attributed the contamination to farming around the town's well. The water board ordered grower John Romans of Mission Ranches, and the property owner, Wendell Naraghi, to provide drinking water for San Lucas.
That means they foot the bill, about $2,400 a month since July 1, 2012, for bottled water to supply about 450 residents and the 70-student San Lucas School.
Last year, Romans and Naraghi submitted a plan for a replacement water supply: drilling a new well next to the Salinas River, piping it to town.
That first well location didn't work out, but Romans found another option, just about 1,000 feet from the existing, contaminated well.
The hole has been permitted and drilled. "It was a good well, as far as nitrates go," says Romans' consultant, Nancy Isakson.
Within a couple of months, she says, the well should be online and San Lucas residents should be off bottled water. "We're close," she says.