NELVIN CEPEDA / Union-Tribune
A microbiologist tested water samples at EnviroMatrix Analytical, one of several state-approved labs used by small water systems to make sure their water is safe to drink. |
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Most people in a large city don't know the folks who run their water system. They just turn on their tap and assume what comes out is safe, clean and always available.
It's a different story for those in rural California who rely on about 4,000 small water systems. That includes about 30,000 people in San Diego County's backcountry and countless others who visit parks and businesses there.
Their water comes from a system that might be owned or operated by the neighbor down the street. Safety depends not on a department of trained professionals, but on that neighbor's finances, know-how and willingness to act when contaminants turn up.
“For the most part, it's people who don't have the training and experience to run a system,” said Mark McPherson, chief of the land and water quality division of the county Department of Environmental Health, which oversees the systems.
The county's 162 small water systems serve customers who live beyond the boundaries of a city or water district, but don't have private wells to draw from.
About one-third of the systems are 30 to 50 years old, some with leaky pipes or overburdened storage tanks. Equipment repairs or replacement can cost thousands of dollars, money that the owners often don't have.
“The water pipes break. They're old. Then you're out of water until (the owner) can get them repaired,” said Sheila Hadsell, a Live Oak Springs resident who keeps 5 gallons of bottled water on hand for the times her community's troubled system breaks down.
“It gets expensive when it goes on for three days or a week,” Hadsell added. “You're flushing your toilets, feeding your animals and cooking with it.”
Each operator is required to regularly test water and submit the samples to an independent laboratory. County officials step in when the tests show contamination.
A recent analysis by the county found 122 instances from August 2005 to February 2006 where tests indicated possible contamination. Usually the problem is caused by a sampling error or is resolved quickly, and customers can again safely drink the water.
The county has no record of illness caused by bad water from a small system, but owners of systems that repeatedly fail safety standards – like the one in Live Oak Springs – can be cited or fined.
Until a year ago, just one county inspector was responsible for overseeing all small water systems, covering hundreds of miles from Dulzura to Palomar Mountain to Borrego Springs. Now there are two.
McPherson said that until the second inspector was hired, only the most troublesome systems got the county's attention.
“We no longer are dealing with just the problems,” he said.
Hands-on owners
Small water systems, defined as those with fewer than 200 connections, dot the north and east stretches of the county. They serve small neighborhoods, parks, schools, mobile-home parks, restaurants and other businesses.
“Some of them are so small that the owner is out there digging ditches and putting pipe in the ground,” McPherson said.
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
John Grisafi (background) operates a small water system in Guatay, along Old Highway 80 in East County. The 57-year-old system supplies water for his family and 32 neighbors. "It takes some dedicated people to run a system to keep it in shape," he said. "You just can't let it sit there."
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The systems are typically managed by an owner or a volunteer board of directors. Generally, anyone can get a permit to start a system if they prove to the county they have the money, training, management skills and customers to warrant one. The environmental impact is also weighed.
Though the county has stepped up its oversight, much of the responsibility still rests with operators. They must keep the water clean, set rates, bill customers and notify them when the water is unsafe.
They also must learn about a plethora of laws and regulations. Federal law requires small systems that regularly supply drinking water to meet the same quality standards as those for a big city.
Most systems set their own rates, with little government oversight. Larry Linder, general manager of the Borrego Springs Community Service District, said the cost of running the systems means “they are either going to have higher rates or they are going to fail.”
The average customer of the Borrego Springs system pays $45 a month, $5 less than the state average, but Linder said other services such as trash collection help balance the books.
In Guatay, a spot along Old Highway 80 in East County, typical water bills run from $40 to $100 a month. The system's operator, John Grisafi, works as a right-of-way engineer for the California Department of Transportation during the week, surveying the land owned by the state's highway system.
In his spare time, Grisafi maintains the 57-year-old system, which supplies water for his family and 32 neighbors. The system's board of directors oversees everything from billing to the monthly testing.
Grisafi got involved five years ago when he moved to Guatay. He started out as a board member. Then, when the system needed a new certified operator, he took the necessary courses at Cuyamaca College.
“It takes some dedicated people to run a system to keep it in shape,” he said. “You just can't let it sit there.”
14 systems cited
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently asked, through the state Public Records Act, for access to files for small water systems that have been cited by the county in the past two years. The county turned over files for 14 systems.
McPherson said county officials try to work with system owners, citing them only if their actions threaten public health or if repeated efforts at correction have failed. Even then, the county often sends out only a compliance order. Fines are a last resort.
NELVIN CEPEDA / Union-Tribune
System operators are required to regularly test water and submit samples to an independent lab like EnviroMatrix Analytical, where Byron Odwazny tested samples.
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A system could be placed in receivership in the most extreme cases, but that has never happened.
According to the files, some systems churned out contaminated water for months or even years before being cited by the county. Seven systems have chronic problems that are still unresolved.
By far, the most consistently troubled system is the one in Live Oak Springs, which was built before World War II and now serves 138 customers off Interstate 8 near the Golden Acorn Casino.
Nazar Najor, who runs the system, was recently fined $5,600 by the county, the largest penalty ever issued against a small water system.
County officials say the decades-old system is long overdue for an overhaul.
In 1958, Meredith Rankin, who then owned the system, blamed contamination on “Indians breaking into springs and people occupying dwellings which had not been occupied for some time.”
In 1973, residents complained they were getting dirty water or no water at all. In early 1982, an inspector noted that the 50-year-old piping in the system was thin and corroded. He said the system had 33 breaks in 1980, three of them major ruptures that shut down water delivery for up to three days.
Residents again complained they weren't getting water in 1991.
The problems continued, culminating in October, when county officials said the water was unsafe to drink and shut down a restaurant Najor operates. Prodded by the county, Najor hired a certified operator. The operator quit when he wasn't paid.
Najor didn't respond to requests for an interview, but has said he has spent thousands of dollars to repair the system. He also has questioned the county's testing methods, noting that results from other labs were clean.
Just a few miles from Live Oak Springs, the Boulevard Springs water system also has been plagued with problems.
The water system is on land along Old Highway 80 that was bought in the 1970s by Tom Hom, a former state assemblyman and San Diego councilman, and his family. The system supplies a Mexican restaurant, video store and post office.
The Tom Hom Group, which runs the system, was cited in May 2004 for pouring a quart of bleach into the well to disinfect it after fecal coliform was found there.
“The water system is NOT being operated in a conscientious manner that assures that the water will be safe for consumption,” a county inspector wrote.
The system hired a certified operator after tests in December 2005 again showed fecal bacteria. After improvements to the system and two months of clean tests, a test last month again showed bacteria.
William Newbern, president of the Tom Hom Group, said the partnership has spent more than $25,000 to repair the well and reimburse the restaurant owner.
“It really has become a concern of ours,” Newbern said. “It makes us very nervous.”
In Descanso, students and staff members at the Phoenix House Academy, a drug rehabilitation center for teens, drank bottled water for more than two years because of system problems after the October 2003 wildfires.
The private facility was cited in December 2005 after fecal coliform bacteria showed up in its water system. The bacteria comes from human or animal waste products and can cause gastroenteritis or other serious illnesses.
The academy was fined $2,240, but has since made improvements, and its water is now safe to drink.
Phoenix House Academy attorney Edward Balsamo said in a letter to county officials that the water problems apparently were caused by a contractor during the rebuilding of fire-damaged structures.
“This isolated incident does not reflect Phoenix House's normal operational practices,” Balsamo wrote.
Greater scrutiny
Because the systems rely on groundwater, volunteers and aging equipment, they can carry more of a health risk than a city-run water district. But they're still more closely monitored than private wells, which are tested only when they're installed.
Small systems are tested monthly or quarterly, depending on their type. Compare that with the Helix Water District, where weekly tests are conducted at 42 sites.
“It's a much more complex operation that ensures a consistent quality,” said Mark Umphres, director of water quality for Helix. “It's highly regulated and highly monitored.”
The county now requires that most small water systems be run by a certified operator, someone who's trained to know what it takes to keep the system safe. The exceptions include RV parks, parks, campsites and other “transient” sites. Also, new owners must have a financial plan to show how they plan to pay for improvements such as new pipes and pumps.
To finance the new inspector and greater scrutiny, the county Board of Supervisors recently approved rate increases for small-water-system permits that will double fees for many of the owners this year. Fees will increase in smaller amounts over the next three years.
A water system serving a community, for example, now pays about $600 a year for a county permit. When the new county fees go into effect July 1, that will increase to $1,290 a year, eventually rising to $2,880 by the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The permit-fee increases could ultimately be passed on to customers in the form of higher water rates.
Linder, of the Borrego Springs district, said vigilant government oversight is vital because many system owners haven't been setting aside the money needed for repairs.
“If you've been ignoring your system for 30 or 40 years, you're not going to fix it overnight,” he said.
Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com
