Tulare County details dozens of water projects, warns of stalled work in Earlimart

Denise England, grants and resource manager for the Tulare County Resource Management Agency, told the Tulare County Water Commission on July 14 that the county is managing dozens of disadvantaged-community water and wastewater projects funded by state and federal programs and that several projects risk delays or lost funds if work does not accelerate.

"We have several different programs. The longest standing is the disadvantaged community integrated regional water management involvement program, otherwise known as the DACI program," England said, adding that the program initially provided about $8,400,000 in implementation funding in two tranches.

The update described a mix of completed, active and planned projects across Tulare County. England said the county received an expedited Prop 68 drinking water grant of just over $13.5 million to drill a new water supply on property the county purchased from the Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District and to construct a distribution connection between East Orosi and the Orosi Public Utility District (PUD). The county has administrator funding through the State Revolving Fund (SRF) for East Orosi operations and received a separate gap grant of $199,631 for shortfalls between collected rates and operating costs.

England listed other project amounts: a Matheny Tract clean water SRF construction project near $25 million to connect 145 homes and three commercial properties to the City of Tulare sewer system; a Lonoke/Lone Oak project with a submitted funding application for about $6 million to connect 79 residential parcels to the City of Tulare sewer system; a DuKor north tank replacement at $929,500; and an Allensworth metering project for $365,000. She also noted a Prop 1–funded Phase 2 construction project for Seville that includes a test well, conversion to a supply well, storage and booster pumps and a pipeline intertie (project costs described in the meeting as approximately $11.5 million for construction components).

The county reported a mix of other state and local funding: West Goshen consolidation under the Department of Water Resources’ Small Community Drought Relief Program at just over $3.4 million for 53 connections; an Avenue 266 (Harrison Road) consolidation to serve 27 connections, planned for bid in September; Pixley PUD water main extension at $2 million; Ivanhoe PUD wastewater upgrades at $650,000; Poplar Community Services District well gap funding at $499,000; and multiple SRF–related awards and planning funds elsewhere in the county. England said some awards have not yet been invoiced and warned that several grants have a spending deadline of December 2026.

England described operational problems in East Orosi and Earlimart (transcript spelling variants: "Esterosi," "Early Mart"). The county was appointed water system administrator for East Orosi in October 2022 and sewer system administrator in June 2024. She said the county is collecting rates that cover most operations, but one-time repairs have required use of SRF administrator funds. England reported repeated vandalism and pump failures at Earlimart lift stations that required emergency pump replacement and temporary trucking of sewage to the Cutler-Orosi wastewater treatment facility; she said the county authorized fencing at a lift station to improve security.

On Earlimart specifically, England said the district had failed to spend a $460,000 Clean Water SRF planning grant awarded in 2021 that was meant to make the sewer interceptor project shovel-ready. To avoid losing ARPA and earmark dollars set aside for an interceptor and a Front Street well (the county described $1.6 million in ARPA and federal earmarks including about $1.2 million for the interceptor and $1.7 million for the Front Street well), the county solicited an engineering consultant and will lead project design and permitting so work can go to bid next summer. "We are walking away from the $460,000 because to get the state involved, it would just take a lot longer and we have to spend this 1.6 of ARPA money before December 2026," England said.

Commissioners and community speakers framed the problem as broader than isolated projects. Commissioner Quinley warned that unspent grant money undermines credibility with state funders and jeopardizes other communities’ access to funds. Rogelio, a resident of Earlimart, told the commission that the town has long felt held back by lack of reliable water and sewer infrastructure and that stalled projects have frustrated residents and prospective businesses.

The commission also received a drought and well-permitting update: staff reported 39 well permits in July with a net of 20 new wells (19 destructions) and said the county’s tank-and-haul program has 976 tanks in the program and 1,700 households enrolled in bottled water service (209 of those are described as drought-related; the remainder are contamination-related). Staff said there is a verbal commitment for additional funding for bottled-water deliveries but no executed contract at the time of the meeting.

Why this matters: county staff and commissioners said the mix of federal, state and local funds could deliver transformational infrastructure for small, unincorporated communities but only if projects move to construction. The county described taking on administrator responsibilities and direct project management in places where local districts have not acted to ensure funds are spent and projects are built.

The commission did not take formal votes on these items during the meeting but set a plan to continue oversight and to bring additional project details to future meetings. Next scheduled commission meeting is Sept. 8, 2025.