New fill station in Tulare County provides free, clean drinking water
Residents from Orosi and Cutler who are on well water and have long struggled with access to clean drinking water now have a new option thanks to a free fill station funded by the Kings Water Alliance.
The station opened in February outside of Jack’s Gas on the corner of Road 128 and Avenue 413 in northern Tulare County. Residents may bring their own containers, whether a 5 gallon jug or a personal water bottle, and fill them for free with clean water.
Previously, residents had to pay for water at other fill stations in Orosi or neighboring Cutler. The only other station supplying free drinking water is in Dinuba, a 14-mile roundtrip journey from Cutler and Orosi.
“We are really excited for this and want to shine a light on this resource,” said Chris De Leon, advocacy manager with Community Water Center. “We pushed hard for this because the only way to get to Dinuba is via car, there is no public transportation available.”
Water quality has been a concern in the region for decades as groundwater is contaminated with nitrates, a salt that can cause “blue baby” syndrome in infants, cutting off oxygen to babies. Nitrates have also been connected to some types of cancer.
Residents with contaminated well water are urged to not drink, cook or even brush their teeth with tap water. Many have no other option than to rely on bottled water.
The fill station is connected to the water system of Orosi Public Utilities District, which does not have nitrate contamination.
De Leon said the new fill station is an example of a short-term solution for residents while long-term solutions are slowly making progress as part of the SAFER (Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience) drinking water program, the state’s effort to provide clean drinking water to all residents, especially those in rural areas.
Residents of the unincorporated East Orosi are anticipating a long-awaited groundbreaking on Wednesday for a new system that will connect homes to the Orosi PUD under a state consolidation order.
Meanwhile, the new Orosi fill station provides a critical emergency water resource for all residents of the region regardless of their water supply situation, De Leon said.
“It’s able to service people from Cutler, or people from East Orosi can come if they run out of water. The same applies to domestic well households,” he said. Re
The fill station was funded by the Kings Water Alliance, a nonprofit formed in 2021 to implement California’s Nitrate Control Program. The Kings Water Alliance is the governing body for the Kings Management Zone, which encompasses the Kings and Tulare Lake groundwater subbasins.
The Kings Management Zone is one of six high priority basins, all of which are in the San Joaquin Valley. They include Turlock, Modesto, Chowchilla, Kaweah, Tulare and Kern.
Kings Water Alliance executive officer Debra Dunn said other free fill stations are located in Hanford, Kerman and Dinuba. They are open to anyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In addition to the new fill station, the alliance is supplying bottled water to the homes of pregnant women and infants less than a year old within Cutler Public Utilities District, where nitrate levels consistently exceed state standards of 10 milligrams per liter.
Dunn said the alliance offers free domestic well nitrate testing and is continually seeking more applicants.
It has tested more than 1,500 domestic wells since 2021, and said there are an estimated 10,000 more wells yet to be tested in its service area. If results are above state standards, free home delivery of bottled water is offered.
Visit kingswateralliance.org for more information.
