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Stratford residents frustrated by failed wells, take water woes one day at a time
Stratford’s two main water wells mysteriously went down over the weekend, and the cameras will attempt to pinpoint the cause. Currently, local officials say they’re not 100 percent sure what happened. Kings County Supervisor Joe Neves, who also lives in Stratford, says he’s not sure why the wells failed. “(We want) to see what’s going on,” he told The Leader. “They were pumping sand.”
The community has relied on three wells, referred to wells five, six and seven. Number six was decommissioned but since has been put back online, if only temporarily, for sanitation purposes. It cannot be used for consumption until lab tests verify that the water is suitable for drinking.
Stratford residents seem to be taking the lack of drinking water in stride. As a bright sun pounded Stratford’s downtown with 100-degree temperatures, business went on as usual. At the town’s only auto parts store, a local mainstay for more than 60 years, its owner, Chris Rodrigues Sr. and son Chris Jr. were frustrated but resigned to Stratford’s water woes.
“We had to get bottled water to make coffee,” said Rodrigues Sr. Currently, he said there is no drinking water but thanks to the third well, there is water for sanitation. “It’s definitely an inconvenience,” he said.
“It goes on and off all the time,” said the 63-year-old businessman. “We always have some issue.” However, he said the water has never been off for this long. He admitted that the lack of wells is a problem, and it worries him. “Oh yeah. This town doesn’t have any money to build a new well. We have to find grants or something to keep this going.”
Rodrigues doesn’t put any blame on a single entity. “No, you can’t blame (anyone). There could have maybe been more of a push to get some grants. That would be about it.” He is however confident that the system will be fixed.
Despite the absence of drinkable water, the surrounding public has been generous and fast-acting. Pallets of water have been pouring in on a regular basis. Elected officials, service clubs, and the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino have routinely delivered fresh water to Stratford residents. Even the City of Lemoore chipped in, providing tankers of water to the parched town.
Just down the road from Rodrigues lives Gloria Racy, a retired nurse, and her husband, United States Coast Guard retiree John Nimmons. The two have lived in Stratford for 21 years, arriving here to take advantage of the area’s excellent schools. The two were in the process of renovating their beautiful 100-year-old home in central Stratford when the wells broke down.
“It’s an ongoing problem,” said Racy of Stratford’s water woes. “They’re always doing patchwork on the wells. We got up Sunday (morning), and there was no water.”
While she’s disappointed in the ongoing problems, she says the Stratford Public Utilities District is doing the best it can. “The water department people have gone above and beyond,” she said.
“We opened the faucet on Sunday, and it was sputtering, and I asked my husband to check the big house (they were staying in a smaller unit while renovating the larger house), and he said it’s the same thing here. My son told me that two wells have collapsed, and he was hustling getting water for the community.”
Racy’s son, Robert Isquierdo, is one of the founders of “Reestablishing Stratford,” a local organization designed to bring respectability and foster respect for Stratford. He too helped provide residents with drinking water.
What needs to be done to ensure Stratford has a dependable source of water? “We need someone who knows what they’re doing to keep working on these water wells and keep them going,” said Racy. “The people here who work in the water department do as much as they can, but without money to replace these old, very old, wells, it’s just going to be a repeat experience all the time. We need money; we need new wells.”
She also blames some elected officials for not doing enough to secure Stratford’s water supply.
One of those elected officials, Neves, told The Leader he’s not exactly sure what caused the wells to fail and is optimistic that the dry wells will soon be back online. “It’s just the luck of the draw that all three (wells) would go down.” He said that both wells were worked on in the last four years. The newest well, just ten years old, also broke down. The other two wells are both approximately 40 years old.
Neves went on to say that if the cameras show irreparable damage, Stratford will need funding to build new wells. “We hope that’s not the case,” he said. “We’re going to think optimistically that the well is going to be fixed.”
The Stratford Public Utility District, the local agency responsible for the community’s water, issued a water alert, warning residents not to drink the water from the additional well, which is for sanitation purposes only. Residents are also being advised to use only bottled water until the local water supply is deemed safe. The unsafe water alert stated that local water officials expect to resolve the problem within seven days.
Kelly Granger, one of the persons currently evaluating Stratford’s wells, told The Leader that as of Wednesday morning, cameras were lowered into the wells and completed their job. It’s up to a team of engineers to review the video and take the proper course of action.
“Our company (Granger Water Specialties) operates and manages (about) 30 water districts,” he said. “We worked late last night (Tuesday, Aug. 14). “The video has been done. They’re going to take the recording to (Valley Pump) where their engineers will make a recommendation for us. We’ll review it with them. We’re trying to expedite things here,” he said.
Granger, when asked what the long-term prospects were, said Stratford needs to build additional wells, insisting that at least one new well is needed. “These wells have failed multiple times since we’ve managed the district,” he said. He added that the wells tend to collapse. Sand pours in and damages the wells.
Grange's company works for the Stratford Public Utilities District, and he said this is the fifth time a well has collapsed. He said the long-term solution is a new well, improved storage, and booster pumps. “That’s what we’re pushing for now.”
At the moment he’s not sure where the money will come from for a new well. “We’re working really hard to get grant money. I’d like to see grants because this is a very poor community.”
