Tulare County updates timeline, funding for East Orosi drinking water and sewer repairs

Denise England, grants and resources manager with the Tulare County Resource Management Agency, briefed the Board of Supervisors on the county—s ongoing administrator role for the East Orosi Community Services District water system and the newly assumed sewer system administrator responsibilities.

England told the board the county was appointed water system administrator in 2022 and that the administrator agreement currently has funding through February 2027. She said the county executed an expedited drinking-water grant of $13,700,000 to build a new well, a water main to connect the system to the Orosi PUD system, and a new, pressurized distribution system for the community. Bids for the construction contract were put out in July 2025 and are scheduled to be opened on Aug. 28, 2025; the project timeline includes a 90-day contracting period and an approximately 550-day construction period, placing substantial completion roughly two years after contract award if the schedule holds.

The presentation outlined ongoing operational steps while construction proceeds. England said residents have received regular bottled-water deliveries through the Self-Help program because the system routinely exceeds the nitrate standard; she added the county collects customer rates (about 86% pay on time) and uses state operation-and-maintenance reimbursements to cover shortfalls. She also said the county set aside ARPA funds and is amending its administrator funding agreement to add sewer-administration work.

On the sewer side, England said the county was appointed sewer system administrator on June 11, 2025, and that the county —was the first in the state— to hold that role after a bill sponsored by Senator Hurtado expanded the state board—s authority. She described a system made up of shared, sealed holding tanks that discharge to a lift station and a 3.5-mile ductile-iron force main that conveys wastewater to the Cutler-Orosi Wastewater Treatment Plant. The system, she said, is about 40 years old and has experienced recent failures: vandalism of electrical connections, foreign objects fouling pumps, pump failures requiring temporary trucking of wastewater to the treatment plant, and a lift-station outage that required emergency repairs.

—We are working through a system assessment to identify near-term repairs and longer-term replacement options,— England said, noting engineering questions remain about how to clean or rehabilitate the aged force main, what size pumps are needed, and whether electrical infrastructure is correct. She said the state has indicated it will try to find funding for sewer repairs but that the state does not have the same emergency sewer funding program that exists for drinking water.

England described near-term measures already taken: locking wet-well covers, securing quotes to fence exposed lift-station equipment, locating and pumping shared holding tanks, and contracting operator services. She said the county received just under $30,000 from the dissolved CSD—s remaining cash and that the sewer budget is currently balanced only under optimistic assumptions.

Board members asked clarification questions about the February 2027 administrator funding horizon, the buffer planned between construction completion and transfer of ownership, and comparative bill-payment rates for county-run systems. England said the consolidation agreement includes a transition window, and that warranties, contractor closeout, escrow and other steps inform the timing for transfer of ownership and governance to Orosi PUD once construction and conditions are complete.

The board did not take a vote on the presentation. The county continued to document outreach activities, including monthly nitrate notices and quarterly community meetings, and staff said they will continue procurement, the system assessment, and community engagement while pursuing funding and the construction schedule.