The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an Emergency Administrative Order under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act to D&D Mobile Home Park. The park serves predominantly agricultural workers and is located within the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians Reservation in Thermal, California, a small town in the Coachella Valley.

The EPA emergency order requires the park owners to provide safe alternative drinking water to residents, address deficiencies with their arsenic reduction system, and obtain a certified operator within one month. This action is part of ongoing EPA efforts to ensure small drinking water systems in Coachella Valley comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

“EPA is committed to protecting the health of our communities, including communities that have historically faced inequity of environmental protection, by ensuring their drinking water is safe and reliable,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “We will continue to fully utilize our EPA toolset to make sure that safe drinking water standards are met.”

The park’s quarterly sampling results for arsenic in 2022 reached a running annual average of 11.6 parts per billion (ppb), which violates the arsenic maximum contaminant level of 10 ppb. In addition, a 2021 EPA inspection of the park’s drinking water system found the owners had not addressed previous significant deficiencies. Based on these cumulative facts, EPA has determined that the conditions of the park’s water system may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons, making this current emergency order necessary to protect public health.

From the time the emergency order was issued, the mobile home park had 24 hours to begin providing all persons served by the park’s water system with at least one gallon of a safe alternative source of water, such as bottled water, per day. The order requires the alternative water to be provided at no direct cost to the residents, including as rent increases or fees. In addition, the park must notify EPA of its intent to comply with the emergency order and issue a public advisory, in English and Spanish, to all its residents regarding the order and the risks associated with arsenic.

Additional requirements in the order include:

1. Retention of a certified operator for its water system
2. Replacement of the water system’s adsorption media
3. A third-party evaluation of the arsenic removal system and implementation of necessary corrective actions

Failure to comply with the EPA orders could result in penalties levied against the mobile home park of up to $28,239 per day.

Arsenic is odorless and tasteless and can enter drinking water supplies from natural deposits in the earth or from agricultural and industrial practices. Exposure to arsenic may result in both acute and chronic health effects. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and drinking high levels of water containing arsenic over many years can increase the chance of lung, bladder, and skin cancers, as well as heart disease, diabetes, and neurological damage.

The Torres Martinez Tribe has no direct control or ownership of the D&D Mobile Home Park water system. EPA works closely with the Torres Martinez Tribe and has consulted their leadership about the violations.

Learn more about the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Learn how EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, together with states, tribes, and many other partners, protects public health by ensuring safe drinking water and protecting ground water.

Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Original source can be found here