Grayson community in Stanislaus County without clean water due to replacement of treatment plant
GRAYSON — A community outside of Modesto in Stanislaus County is without clean running water as the city is replacing the area's nitrate removal plant.
The small unincorporated community of Grayson has seen city trucks canvassing each street laying roughly five cases of bottled water on every doorstep.
The nitrate removal plant is beyond the end of its useful life and the replacement will take up to two months. In the meantime, residents are making do with bottled water provided by the city.
It's a service older residents are appreciative of and understand why.
"'Don't drink the water,' they told us," Fina said. "'You can bathe with it, you can wash your clothes with it, but you cannot drink it or cook with it.' "
Most residents we talked to described it as an inconvenience but one they could live with until the plant is completed.
Lalia Lomeli-Gil runs the Grayson United Community Center and spoke on the treatment plant being replaced.
"We're really taking precautions because, again, we know how dangerous nitrates can be," Lomeili-Gil said.
While residents like Fina feel a minor inconvenience, others like Elizabeth Gutierrez with younger kids are worried.
"It affects me because the water smells rotten," Gutierrez said through translation. "When you wash the dishes, it smells very bad."
She said the amount of water they've gotten is not enough. The city told CBS Sacramento that they provided a number to all residents by mail for more resources, but Gutierrez told us she never received it.
Fina did and said the city has been good about requests for more water.
"At first, they only gave us five (gallons) and then we had to call," Fina, a Grayson resident, said. "I said, "We need more water.' They brought us four yesterday and today they gave us fifteen."