San Lucas on course to have drinking water well

SAN LUCAS – San Lucas is on its way to having a drinkable water source.

Last we heard from of members of the San Lucas County Water District Board Sheri Braden and Jodilyn Barker, they held a bake sale to raise money toward getting a test water well to have ingestible water in San Lucas in February.

“After we started, we didn’t know if we would be getting a well or hooking up to King City water,” said Braden.

At the last San Lucas County Water District meeting, the Board heard news they were hoping to hear. There will be a studies conducted on the current well to see what caused the sedimentation and concentration of nitrates and a new well to be drilled after the studies are concluded to give the residents of San Lucas safe drinking water.

The drilling of the well is expected to cost up to a million dollars. The alternative of hooking up to King City was projected to cost more.

“They have to know where the nitrates started so they can dig lower this time and how it will effect grapes and crops,” said Braden.

She added, “Even after the well is drilled, they will still have to test the water one year before we are allowed to use it to make sure there are no nitrates and to make sure they are at proper level.”

In the last Board meeting held June 26, John Romans, owner of Mission Ranches, Alex Romans and Chris Lopez, from supervisor Simon Salinas’s office attended the water district’s board meeting to give them the news.

After hearing the news, Barker said, “I feel elated. We have been trying to do this at the point of being frustrated.”

She added, “This (water problem) is always thrown under the rug. We are trying to bring San Lucas back to life.”

Since March 2011, San Lucas has been found to have contaminated water. With nitrate at about 45mm nitrates per liter of water, it is higher than the state standard allowed for drinking water. The effects of drinking water high in nitrates can cause blue baby syndrome in pregnant women or infants under six months. Residents of San Lucas have found they have rashes and other health risks from exposure to the water.

Until a long term solution is finalized, Wendell Naraghi, property owner of the farm land including and surrounding the water district’s well and owner of Mission Ranches Company, LLC have decided to be good neighbors to the people in San Lucas and are providing free water to the residents for six months.

Each family in San Lucas is allowed to have 25 gallons of water, or five five-gallon jugs, per week delivered to San Lucas.

For the complete article see the 07-25-2012 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 07-25-2012 paper.