Porterville woman provides drought relief for neighbors

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown has just authorized drought disaster relief for homes that have run out of water. The measure provides money for local governments to buy and supply water to places where wells have run dry.

It's welcome news to a Porterville woman, who has been hauling water to hundreds of homes and families on her own since June.

Donna Johnson has been a one-woman disaster relief operation for folks in and around Porterville for four months. She and her husband, and some friends have been bringing bottled water to folks who everyone else seemed to have forgotten.

Just outside the Porterville city limits are hundreds of homes with dry wells and no water. For months, Johnson and her helpers, Eric and Matt, in her purple car have been bringing relief.

"Donna has been a lifesaver," said Michael Cybert.

Cybert is just one of the nearly 200 folks who've been receiving weekly deliveries of bottled water from Johnson free of charge. Johnson's drought relief effort started in June, when the well at her own house ran dry.

Her husband, Howard, had to join others getting their non-drinking water from a local fire station. But they had to rely on bottled water to drink and cook with, and she discovered a lot of folks couldn't haul their own.

She found folks like Concepcion Rodriguez, who said, "The water in the pump is no good, no good." She said the water Johnson brings her has been a great relief.

Johnson has discovered those she helped didn't know who to call or what to do.

"I think that is what the problem was," she said. "Nobody was aware, and a lot of the people were shy and prideful and they didn't want to say."

Johnson went door to door and came up with a list of all the addresses where she found folks out of water. She gave the list to Tulare County officials. It's estimated nearly 1,000 homes in the Porterville area alone are without water.

Tulare County is now helping, but Johnson is still filling the gap, with water donated by individuals and community groups, and she's happy to help.