Nitrates in the Water

Welcome to East Orosi

East Orosi is a small town in California of about 700 residents who can’t drink, cook with, or shower in their tap water.¹ This farming town is located directly in the San Joaquin Valley, which is the leading agricultural region of the United States.

Many residents of East Orosi are farmworkers and their families.² As of 2019, over 99% of residents identified as Hispanic, mainly originating from Latin America. About 75% of this population was born in the United States, while the other 25% immigrated to East Orosi. The majority of foreign born latinos in the town have not become legal citizens of the United States. Latinos have historically lacked accessibility to politics and face many voting barriers because of this, and also when there is a language barrier. There is an 80% spanish-speaking population of East Orosi.³ These factors make it especially difficult for politicians to gather support for their bills and pass them, including environmental legislation to protect the town.

The average household income in East Orosi is $45,086.³ This is close to half of the average income of the entire state of California, which is $75,235.⁴ The unemployment rate of this town is about 20% and the poverty rate is close to 50%. Additionally, education levels are seemingly low, with almost 60% of residents over 25 having never graduated high school.³ People who are considered to be low-income and uneducated also face many barriers to science and politics, because they typically lack time, finances, and other resources.

Nitrate Pollution

Nitrates affect the hemoglobin in human blood and make oxygen less available to the body. High exposures can cause nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and dizziness. Nitrates are linked to thyroid disease which causes fatigue, weight gain, and hair loss.¹ The Safe Drinking Water Act establishes the legal limit for nitrate in community water systems to be 10 mg/L, based on a U.S. Public Health Service recommendation to guard against blue baby syndrome in 1962. But recent studies show increased risk of colorectal cancer, thyroid disease and birth defects at 5 mg/L of nitrates and lower.² The EPA suspended plans to reevaluate the nitrate standard in 2019.⁵

The People of East Orosi

East Orosi’s nitrate averages have surpassed 5 mg/L every year between 2003 and 2017, reaching 10 mg/L nine times.² Because of the level of nitrate contamination, the residents are forced to sustain themselves on bottled water. People in East Orosi use bottled water to drink, bathe, cook, wash dishes, water the plants and more.¹ In addition to paying water bills for the water they cannot drink, residents spend money on gas to drive to towns with safe water to fill up jugs, pick up provided water bottles, or buy their own.⁶

This contamination has already affected multiple generations in East Orosi. Parents have been teaching their children to keep their eyes and mouths closed in the shower for over thirty years. Those children have grown up and are now teaching their own children the same thing. Even after attending town meetings for years, parents still watch as their children lose their hair and develop rashes from the shower water.¹

Potential Solutions

In 2015, the state of California passed the Senate Bill No. 88. This expanded the power of the State Water Resources Control Board to consolidate smaller, ineffective water systems with larger ones to provide safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities. Three years later, the State Water Board announced that East Orosi and Orosi would be joining systems.⁶

Although this consolidation could finally bring safe drinking water to East Orosi, it is still concerning for many residents because of the high costs. Even though East Orosi is only a mile away from Orosi, pipe installation can still cost millions of dollars. This expense distributed among the small population of East Orosi is not affordable for many families in the area. In 2019, Governor Newsom had proposed a $140 million tax on water districts and the agriculture industry to fund the redevelopment of districts serving unsafe water in California. Many residents and politicians disagreed with this approach.⁷ Although the pipes connecting East Orosi Community Services District and Orosi Public Utility District would be covered by a state grant, people were concerned that this consolidation could still increase the bills of residents.⁸

East Orosi Today

After little progress from East Orosi and Orosi to begin consolidation, the State Water Board issued a mandatory order in October of 2020. This required both districts to complete the consolidation by the end of 2024.⁶

In June of 2021, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted to manage East Orosi's water board. Because East Orosi doesn't have the technical and financial resources to completely redevelop the water district themselves, Tulare County will help them to finally consolidate with Orosi's water district.

Hopefully, these policies and changes will implement long term solutions that will provide safe water to the people of East Orosi.⁸