Water Woes At Butte County Mobile Home Park Have Dozens Of Families Cutting Back
BUTTE COUNTY (CBS13) — California says a dozen California communities are on the brink of running out of water in just 60 days.
Most of those communities are small and rely on one source of water.
Michelle Payne has just about given up hope of saving her plants.
"Pretty much anything that was alive weeks ago is dry, 'cause we haven't been able to water," she said.
At Big Bend Mobile Home Park north of Oroville, more than 30 families are severely cutting back. The water supply is to the point that neighbors say the water is shut off entirely between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
"Hard when you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and, well, I guess we're not flushing," she said.
The lone water source for this entire community is this one well. There are other wells on the property, but they have already run dry.
John Dougherty's family is already making some difficult adjustments.
"There's really nothing can you about it," he said.
Some from the mobile home park drive five miles down the road to get their drinking water from a spring box.
California's statewide water woes appear to be worsening, as the state's water resources board's list of communities at risk of running out of water grew from eight to 12 in just 60 days.
In Kings County, emergency crews hooked up a fire hose to bring in water to a subdivision in Kings County whose well went dry. But that's only a temporary fix.
More permanent help is on the way for the mobile home park in Butte County. Word came in late Friday that the state has approved plans to drill a new well. It comes at a critical time, before they're running on empty.
"It's hard but we'll get through it. I have faith in California," Payne said.
