A new Fresno County Civil Grand Jury report found that the City of Fowler has been working to address its drinking water not meeting state standards.
The grand jury report, which was released on Monday, detailed that while the city’s water does not currently meet state standards, the city has been working for the past seven years to rectify the situation.
The backstory: Microplastic 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was found in Fowler’s drinking water after it was detected above the legal limit in one of the city’s wells. TCP is a pesticide that was used from the 1950s to the 1980s.
- The standard for TCP is 0.000005 mg/L, with the amount of TCP found in Fowler over the last year at 0.000006 mg/L.
- Fowler responded by filing a lawsuit against the Shell Oil Company, the Dow Chemical Company and other TCP-related businesses in an effort to recover the costs associated with restoring the well.
- The grand jury received a citizen complaint alleging that nothing was being done by Fowler to address the issue.
The big picture: The grand jury found that Fowler has planned to install a new filtration system for several years but could not afford it without some extra funding.
- Fowler had to wait until the lawsuit was settled for $5 million in early 2021. But after the settlement came in, the project’s design engineers were around 60% complete with the design phase when the city discovered that it did not own the additional property needed for the filtration system. The city did not acquire the property until March 2023.
- “The Fresno County Civil Grand Jury found the City of Fowler to be addressing the water contamination issue,” the report reads. “The City initially addressed the issue quickly however, with no funding to fix the issue, the City could do little until the lawsuit was settled and the needed settlement funds were received.”
- The grand jury also found that Fowler’s Public Works, Water Department has made significant improvements over the past year.
What we’re watching: The grand jury is recommending that Fowler should improve its training process for all Public Works, Water Department operators and should improve its website to make it easier to find all water information in order to improve transparency, among other recommendations.
