By Xochitl Peña, The Desert Sun
Hundreds of residents gathered inside the Desert Mirage High School auditorium in Thermal on Thursday to learn about the latest efforts to help clean up the east valley water systems that are contaminated with arsenic.
The community event on Thursday also included local and state-level panelists who shared information with the public on water, legal and other related issues.
“It's very important that you stay involved. This is going to take a while but know that we are working on this,” said 80th District Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez.
A Desert Sun report on Jan. 31 found that thousands of east valley residents live in areas potentially containing hazardous levels of naturally occurring arsenic in their ground water.
In February, Pérez and Supervisor John Benoit toured the mobile home parks to better grasp the situation.
“We knew we had to come up with intermediate solutions as well as long-term solutions,” Pérez said.
Assembly Bill 2515 would require owners of large mobile home parks to install “point of use” arsenic filters at each mobile unit.
Assembly Bill 2669 would provide notification in Spanish for people that would be affected by contaminated water so they could understand the issue.
Both are awaiting appropriations.
The long-term solution, Pérez said, revolves around implementation of the Integrated Regional Water Management Plan that includes valley water districts and local municipalities working together for the benefit of the community. Funding provided through the water management plan could help connect these mobile home parks to clean water systems.
“At the end of the day the goal is to centralize the (water) system. Connect all the communities to a central system,” he said.
The community event on Thursday also included local and state-level panelists who shared information with the public on water, legal and other related issues.
Sister Gabi Williams, who works with the mobile home population on behalf of the Diocese of San Bernardino, said she was pleased to see so many in attendance.
“The main thing we need to do is work on policy that would allow all of us to have better access to the resources — having well water tested,” she said. “We need to educate the folks. It's extremely important.”
