LOS BANOS, CA — Residents living at the Rafael L. Silva Family Farmworker Housing Center here say the water has been undrinkable due to arsenic, copper and radiation since the migrant worker housing complex opened in 2006. They say they hope that exposing the issue at a July 16 city council meeting will force corrective action, according to a July 16 article in the Merced Star.

Every unit in the complex, which is home to about 200 farm workers, is equipped with 5-gallon jugs of bottled water for drinking and cooking, but residents have to use the tap water for laundry and bathing. Many have reported outbreaks of rashes and having their hair fall out after using the water. Other residents have complained of a dry, dirty feeling on their skin as a result of the water, according to the article.

Jeff Palsgaard, county director of environmental health, said in the article that residents would probably not be exposed to enough contamination to lead to health problems because they only live in the complex for six months at a time during growing season, and that his department would investigate claims of rashes and hair loss.

The Merced County Housing Authority, which runs the complex, said in the article that it could provide clean water for the farm workers if it could hook up to a nearby water line owned by the California Department of Fish and Game. That department has said the 6-inch line is too old and small to hook up to the center.

The present tap water comes from a well, according to the article.

Residents hope they can persuade the city to force the Fish and Game Department to share its line, but that would only be a temporary solution because the line is needed to fight fires in wildlife areas, according to the article.

The Housing Authority is also applying for state money to build a new line to hook up to the city’s water system. To date, the Housing Authority has spent $60,000 to $80,000 supplying bottled water to the complex. A new water line could cost up to $1 million, according to the article.

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