ARVIN, Calif. (KERO) — Arvin Community Services District is now in compliance with arsenic drinking water standard, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board).
The district was able to reach the federal standard through federal and state funding for new water well facilities, according to the EPA.
“For many years, Central Valley communities such as Arvin have struggled to meet drinking water health standards for arsenic. By bringing the system into full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, the District is doing its part to protect human health and provide safe drinking water to the community.”
The district also received funding from EPA in 2017 to replace a drinking water well threatened by contamination from the Brown and Bryant Superfund Site. The threatened well was replaced and a new well was constructed away from the site.
The Brown and Bryant Site, off South Derby Road, housed an agricultural distribution facility for pesticides and other chemicals that were released into the soil and groundwater.
In October 2008, the EPA ordered the district to comply with the arsenic safety standard of 10 parts per billion.
“Today is a milestone for Arvin and a source of encouragement for other communities throughout the state who lack access to clean and safe drinking water and are working to achieve it,” said Joaquin Esquivel, Chair of the State Water Board, in a statement.
