Drought: Elderly South Valley couple's well already dry

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- For almost two months, an elderly South Valley couple has had no running water in their home. The situation on their property is so bad, the couple's family installed water tanks there, which they fill up several times a week, but it's certainly not enough.

Carmen Almanza's daily routine is now a painful trip of taking buckets full of water into her house. "It gets dirty, but then it's just to flush the toilets, you know," she said.

Life without running water was never on Carmen's bucket list. But, just about everywhere you look in her house there are bottles, pitchers and other containers of water. Almost none of it is running from the tap.

"I cannot wash, no laundry, we cannot take showers, so we go to our kids to go shower in their homes," Carmen said.

She and her husband, Al, will both turn 80 very soon. Al has physical problems, so he can't lug the buckets or huge bottles of water in and around the house.

"Yeah, I'm the one that has to do it," Carmen said. She has had to do it every day, all day, since April. "Frustrating...yes," she said. "I try not to show it because (Al) gets more frustrated than I do, because he wants to help me but he can't."

"There's no money, there's no jobs, I can't work," Al said. "I can't move. Now what? I have to depend on my wife."

"We've had some dry times, you know," Al admitted. "But, never to a point like this."

Camren showed Action News their 75-foot well that, in 30 years on the property, has never run dry.

"Water was just dripping, like it is now," Carmen said. "And then all of the sudden it stopped and there's no more water."

Digging a deeper 200-foot well could cost the Almanzas anywhere between $3,000 to about $15,000. That is money that just isn't available. Carmen says she's spent hours on the phone trying to find assistance, with no luck so far.

For now, the tanks out front and drum on the porch will have to do. The Almanzas are doing everything they can to come up with the money to dig that deeper well. Family members are selling food and have created an online campaign. For more information, visit gofundme.com/needwater.