Residents in Stanislaus County's Diablo Grande shoulder massive debt amid water crisis
Homeowners there are now paying a base rate of nearly $600 a month just to keep their water on until December 31.
Community members met with Congressman Adam Gray's office Friday morning to discuss their ongoing water crisis. Residents said that they're hearing the same thing they've heard from other government officials.
Diablo Grande resident Debra Antigua said it's a finger-pointing game when it comes to who will step in to protect the community's water supply.
Congressman Gray's office told CBS13 in a statement that he "is committed to exploring relief options at the federal level through legislative efforts and federal funding requests."
But Antigua says even that comes with conditions.
"I asked, 'What do we need to do to get federal water?' " she said. "And I was told that Western Hills Water District would have to reach out to them first."
The meeting comes after residents agreed to a major water rate increase at the end of June to keep water service going through the end of the year.
Diablo Grande resident Kevin Halverson says he's paying even more.
"A base rate of $568 plus usage, and everybody's forgetting that. Plus usage," he said. "I have a pool, so I'm top tier in the amount of water we use, so my bill is about $700."
Before the increase, Halverson said that he paid just over $300 per month.
"Whether it be the state, the federal government — somebody needs to come in and help," he said.
The community's water comes from Western Hills Water District, but the district is over $13 million in debt to Kern County Water Agency. That's because the Diablo Grande community was originally planned for thousands of homes, but only around 600 were built, meaning much of the water they contracted for was never used.
Western Hills recently sent a letter to Kern County Water Agency, demanding to know what happened to the water originally allocated to Diablo Grande. They also asked for permission to sell that unused water to pay off their debt.
"Everything is landing on the residents to pay forward," Halverson said.
Kern County Water Agency has not yet responded to Western Hills' letter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
E&E News
23 minutes ago
- E&E News
California Coastal Commission staff recommends rejecting increased SpaceX launches
California regulators are recommending that state officials reject a U.S. military plan to increase SpaceX launches from a Southern California base, setting up another fight with Elon Musk, who previously sued the agency for political bias. What happened: California Coastal Commission staff issued a recommendation Friday that the agency's 12 appointed commissioners vote next week to reject the U.S. Space Force's application to increase SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force base from 50 to 95 annually on the grounds that some of the launches don't carry military equipment and shouldn't receive state permitting exemptions. Agency staff said the Space Force failed to provide information showing that all of the launches should be considered military activity, exempting them from commission oversight, even though most won't carry military payloads. Advertisement Why it matters: It's the third time SpaceX's rocket launches have come before the Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over development on California's vaunted 840-mile coastline, including Vandenberg Space Force Base. The agency does not have authority over military activity, however, meaning its votes are nonbinding.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iran considering relocating its capital over severe water shortage
At least 20 of Iran's 31 provinces are now suffering a water crisis. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is reportedly not ruling out relocating the capital city of Tehran over the severe water shortage that has gripped the country, Der Spiegel reported on Thursday, citing Iranian media. "The situation is serious, and Tehran truly has no water left," Pezeshkian said. Iran hit by climate crisis Iran declared a public holiday in Tehran Province last week due to the severe water shortage and energy crisis affecting the country. Schools and governments are expected to be closed until at least Saturday as a way to reduce the country's energy and water usage. At least 20 of Iran's 31 provinces are now suffering a water crisis, and one of the country's largest reservoirs is expected to dry up completely within a matter of weeks, according to Iranian state media site IRNA. The water crisis follows a 2 degrees centigrade rise since the 1960s, according to UNICEF, and a 20% reduction in rainfall over the past 20 years. Tehran's failures Tehran's failure to tackle the climate crisis has caused significant blowback from the regime's critics and Israeli officials. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, in a social media post written in Persian, shared that Iranian "suffering" had directly resulted from the Islamic regime. 'Instead of addressing the needs of the Iranian people, they spend resources on terrorist branches in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza,' Cohen wrote. 'Israel has managed to overcome water shortages, and thanks to our knowledge and innovation, we now have abundant water resources that we even export to our neighbors.' 'To the Iranian nation: The day this oppressive regime is overthrown, your lives will be much better, and you too will be able to benefit from Israel's water technologies,' he concluded Alex Winston contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kamala Harris' revealing interview with Colbert on election loss, political future
(Correction: Joe Biden was the 46th president of the United States. An earlier version of this story included the wrong number in the order of U.S. presidents.) WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Kamala Harris denied that she was sitting out next year's California governor's race because she's holding out for a different office. "No, no," she told "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert during a July 31 appearance. "Honestly, it's more, perhaps, basic than that." Harris said she thought a lot about running for governor in her home state. The 2024 Democratic nominee who lost to President Donald Trump had also previously served as California attorney general and one of the state's two U.S. senators. The 60-year-old who made history as the nation's first female, Black and Asian-American vice president was born in Oakland and now lives near Los Angeles. More: Kamala Harris' decision kickstarts the 2028 Democratic presidential primary: 5 takeaways "Recently I made the decision that, for now, I don't want to go back into the system, I think it's broken," Harris said. Harris said she long believed that the country's systems would be strong enough to defend the nation's core principles but she does not currently believe that's the case. "I want to travel the country, I want to listen to people, I want to talk with people, and I don't want it to be transactional, where I'm asking for their vote," Harris, who has run for president, told Colbert. Earlier in the week, Harris released a statement that she would not compete in the California gubernatorial race in 2026. Yet, she left the door open to a 2028 presidential bid by saying that "for now" she would stay out of public office. She repeated the phase on Colbert as she addressed his question about the California governor's race, while indirectly addressing speculation that she could launch a third presidential campaign. Harris said Democrats have "lots of leaders" they can look to at present and argued that it would be a "mistake" to put the future of the party on "the shoulders of any one person." Harris ran a short-lived campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before joining Biden's ticket and serving as his vice president. She became the Democratic nominee for president in 2024 after Biden dropped out less than four months before the general election. During her abbreviated White House campaign Harris faced questions from voters and party insiders - plus Trump attacks - about whether she was doing enough to distinguish herself from Biden, who is now 82. In the Colbert interview, Harris signaled that she would not be commenting on her former boss' health and fitness for office when he quit the race. Harris said she has an "incredible amount of respect" for Biden, and she encouraged her audience to remember the former 46th president of the United States as someone who believed in the rule of law and the importance of public service and integrity. "And that's where I'll leave that," she said. As for the 2024 campaign, Harris said did not want to "pile on" Biden after he dropped out. "There was a lot of piling on at that time, and I wasn't going to participate in that." The former vice president was on the program to promote her memoir, "107 Days," the publication of which she announced in a video that morning. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster on Sept. 23. More: Kamala Harris leaves door open for potential 2028 presidential run It was Harris' eighth appearance on the program, which was CBS cancelled last month and will end next year, and her first interview about her forthcoming memoir. During the interview she teased a passage in the book about her last birthday. She said her husband, Doug Emhoff, "kind of dropped the ball," last October when she turned 60 just before the election. Harris said she didn't watch the news for months after her loss to Trump. "You know, I'm just not into self-mutilation," she joked. Instead, Harris said she turned to cooking shows. "'The Kitchen' is one of my favorites," she said. During the Colbert interview, Harris also reflected on her drive to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2025, for the certification of Trump's election win. Harris presided over the process in her capacity as president of the Senate and officially declared Trump, who received 312 votes at the Electoral College to her 226, the winner of the 2024 presidential contest. That act invoked memories of the assault on the Capitol four years earlier, when lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence went through the same process to certify Joe Biden and Harris as the nation's next leaders, Harris said. During the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, Harris was in her final days still representing California in the U.S. Senate and was at the Capitol. "It was a difficult day, because it brought up - it conjured a lot, in terms of what that exact day was, what that day has meant in the history of our country, the recent history of our country," she said. Harris said she had not spoken to Pence but complimented him for upholding the Constitution. (This story has been updated with more information and video.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris gives revealing take on 2024 election loss to Colbert
