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Residents call for resident‑led water committee, citing years of poor tap water and possible contaminants
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Summary
Dozens of Adelanto residents and advocates urged the City Council to form a resident‑led 'Adelanto Water' ad hoc committee and demanded transparent testing and action after years of complaints about discolored, foul‑smelling tap water and possible PFAS contamination.
Hundreds of residents and water‑quality advocates urged the Adelanto City Council on Dec. 10 to create a resident‑led ad hoc committee to address longstanding water‑quality problems, saying months and years of complaints have not produced a public, sustained response.
Speakers including Alexis de Jesus of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and Eddie Torres of the Inland Coalition for American Justice said residents have routinely reported brown, foul‑smelling or cloudy tap water, and many worry about contaminants such as PFAS and lead. "Clean water is a basic right," Alexis de Jesus said, asking the council to establish a transparent timeline, remove citizenship requirements from the committee application and increase PFAS/PFOs monitoring and testing.
Eddie Torres presented a petition he said contained nearly 600 signatures calling for the ad hoc committee and for a public town hall. Torres told the council the city had previously promised a resident committee nearly three years ago and that community members had participated in testing with Pitzer College that found elevated levels of lead and other contaminants. "This is an urgent matter," he said, urging the council to reenact the committee and restart town‑hall style outreach.
Individual residents described household health problems and ongoing costs to buy bottled water or replace filters. "My children's skin gets dry; her hair is falling out," one speaker said, asking whether the city could support low‑cost or no‑cost home water filters for affected households. Another urged the council to provide clearer results from prior testing and to make data accessible in Spanish and at times that working residents can attend.
City staff acknowledged the concern and said the administration would provide updates on grant opportunities (including a federal "Waters of the U.S." grant noted by the city manager) and on past testing. Several councilmembers said they take the concerns seriously and asked staff to return with concrete next steps, including whether the previously promised ad hoc committee can be staffed and a timeline for applying for monitoring and remediation grants.
The public‑comment period on Dec. 10 closed with council and staff agreeing to follow up; no formal council action to create the committee was taken on the record during the meeting. The council later moved the potential sale of the stadium into closed session; water‑committee requests remain a public, ongoing issue requiring follow‑up from staff.