Some east Porterville residents finding water from wells undrinkable

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Residents in east Porterville say their wells are finally seeing the results of the rain. The problem is the water in is not usable.

Puddles of water patch potholes on some city streets in east Porterville bringing a sense of relief for some who are wondering if the drought could soon be over. But residents like Shellie Slaton said, "No, no I think the drought is far from over. I really do."

Slaton is a renter and tells me what you see on the ground is pretty much what she sees coming out of her faucet. "Sometimes it's clear and sometimes it's a cloudy brown. Something you'd want to drink, uh no."

Tulare County Health and Human Services tells Action News recent rain has added to the amount of water in Tule River, which has helped turn two wells that were once offline back on. Timothy Lutz explains though why the water for some is not drinkable. "A lot of these wells are very shallow wells, 30-60 foot wells that really are not tapping your deeper ground reserves, but almost picking up almost low level streams. So what you get then, water that is full of marcel dirtier."

"They can't drink that water, it's just not healthy for them," said Melissa Witnell, CSET.

Because of that Witnell said CSET, the drought resource center at Iglesia Emanuel Church, has about 140 residents a week stopping by to take advantage of its services. "We want to make sure residents know we are still here distributing water. The showers are still accessible, they can come to get different services that CSET offers additional aid, and not necessarily water not being in your home."