In the Central Valley, Allensworth holds the distinction as the first town in California founded by African Americans, but it has been battling for water access for more than a century. Now, initiatives are underway that may finally ensure it has access to safe drinking water, reports Teresa Cotsirilos in FERN’s latest story, produced in partnership with KQED’s The California Report.
“In California, clean, safe and affordable drinking water is considered a human right under state law, but nearly a million residents don’t have access to it,” Cotsirilos reports. “Many of them live in the state’s Central Valley, a patchwork of desert scrub and irrigated farmland that’s roughly twice the size of Massachusetts, and produces 25 percent of the nation’s food supply.”
Allensworth, founded by African Americans in 1908, is surrounded by farmland that pumps groundwater and taps water resources from the state’s vast irrigation network. Allensworth’s wells are polluted with arsenic, making the water undrinkable.
“Right now, the only arsenic-free water in Allensworth comes from a small spigot in the center of town, across the street from the elementary school. There are two black solar panels a few feet away from it, which emit a mechanical buzz beneath the squabbling of nearby chickens,” Cotsirilos writes. “The hydropanel system pulls moisture out of the air.”
The town also has an experimental effort underway with the University of California, Berkeley to remove arsenic from groundwater. “If it works, it could help hundreds of other communities whose water is also contaminated,” Cotsirilos writes.
You can read the full story here at FERN and listen on The California Report, which is broadcast on public radio stations throughout the state.