The EPA recently announced a consent decree with the operators of the Oasis Mobile Home Park in California to resolve violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The consent decree requires the park’s operators to upgrade its drinking water and wastewater systems and pay a $50,000 penalty.
“EPA is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that everyone has safe water to drink,” said Joel Jones, the EPA’s Pacific Southwest Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division acting director, in an Agency news release. “We will continue to fully utilize the authorities of the [SDWA] to hold water operators accountable for meeting drinking water standards.”
The mobile home park is located within the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians Tribal Reservation boundaries in Thermal, California, which is in the Eastern Coachella Valley. With an estimated population of 1,000 people, it’s the valley’s largest mobile home park, primarily serving agricultural workers, according to the EPA.
“While situated on Tribal land, the public water and wastewater systems at Oasis operate independently from Tribal control or ownership,” the EPA release notes. “The Park’s drinking water system uses groundwater that has high levels of naturally occurring arsenic. Arsenic is a known carcinogen, and drinking high levels over many years can increase the chance of lung, bladder, and skin cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and neurological damage.
“Since 2019, EPA has issued several Emergency Administrative Orders to the Park’s operators. The orders address the serious threat park residents face from high levels of arsenic in drinking water (exceeding the maximum contaminant level of 10 parts per billion) and failures to adequately operate and maintain the arsenic treatment system. These orders have resulted in substantial improvements, but compliance issues remain, and EPA has been concerned about the Park’s ability to treat arsenic on a long-term basis.”
The EPA complaint against Oasis alleged:
- Defendants failed to provide the EPA with certain inventory information about their septic systems, which are Class V wells, such as the wells’ nature, type, and operating status.
- Defendants didn’t comply with the EPA’s 2021 Emergency Administrative Order, as amended, issued under the SDWA, failing to retain a certified backup operator; submit an alternative water source plan and operations assessment; consistently provide notice of order violations, conduct weekly reporting, and attend weekly meetings; follow the EPA-approved distribution system sampling plan; and install additional storage capacity by the order’s deadline.
- Arsenic is present and likely to enter the public water system at the park, which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of those who use the public water system.
- Contaminants from the park’s wastewater treatment system are likely to enter the public water system at the park, which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health.
Consent decree terms
The consent decree requires extensive upgrades and operational improvements to the drinking water system at Oasis over the next two years. In addition to the $50,000 civil penalty, key requirements include:
- Installation of alarms on the drinking water treatment system to monitor its operation;
- Addition of at least 80,000 gallons of water storage capacity;
- Installation of a booster pump and the purchase of critical replacement parts;
- Ensuring qualified public water system operators are at the park seven days per week until the park’s operators install the alarm system;
- Development of comprehensive standard operating procedures for the public water system;
- Mandatory quarterly meetings with the EPA to review compliance progress with the consent decree; and
- Notification to the EPA as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours if consent decree violations or other issues pose an immediate threat to public health or the environment.
The consent decree also requires the operators to work with an EPA contractor to develop a wastewater system assessment, expected to be completed by March 2026. The operators must fix problems identified during the wastewater system assessment after the Oasis drinking water system improvements are completed.
SDWA
The SDWA was originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. It was amended in both 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources—rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and groundwater wells.
It also authorizes the EPA to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water.
The SDWA applies to the more than 170,000 U.S. public water systems, according to the EPA.
The EPA national standards set enforceable maximum contaminant levels for particular contaminants in drinking water or required ways to treat water to remove contaminants. Each standard also includes requirements for water systems to test for contaminants in the water to make sure standards are achieved.
“To ensure that drinking water is safe, SDWA sets up multiple barriers against pollution,” states the EPA SDWA Overview. “These barriers include: source water protection, treatment, distribution system integrity, and public information. Public water systems are responsible for ensuring that contaminants in tap water do not exceed the standards. Water systems treat the water, and must test their water frequently for specified contaminants and report the results to states. If a water system is not meeting these standards, it is the water supplier’s responsibility to notify its customers. Many water suppliers now are also required to prepare annual reports for their customers. The public is responsible for helping local water suppliers to set priorities, make decisions on funding and system improvements, and establish programs to protect drinking water sources. Water systems across the nation rely on citizen advisory committees, rate boards, volunteers, and civic leaders to actively protect this resource in every community in America.”