June 20, 2023 — Fresno County Board of Supervisors

Documented by Rachel Youdelman

What happened: At their Tuesday meeting, the Fresno County Supervisors approved a steep increase of $183 per month in water-service fees for the rural community of El Porvenir, which will begin July 1 and increase 2% annually through 2028.

The approval followed a Proposition 218 hearing, during which only two of 59 residents’ ballots were returned, registering opposition to the increase for the debt-burdened community.

In March, El Porvenir rejected an increase in monthly water rates, a slightly smaller increase than that approved Tuesday, which will increase rates from $104.21 to $287.58 per month.

Mariana Alvarenga, a policy advocate from the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability said that the increased rates will be a hardship for residents, who fear that state assistance may not materialize. She asked the board to convert the debt to a loan and then to forgive it.

The community has been forced to purchase water at market rates from the Westlands Water District since 2006 and owed more than $245,000, as of September 2021. The water is shipped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and is not potable, even after treatment, so residents get bottled water for drinking and cooking from another source.

New wells have been under construction since 2018, and will rely on the availability of groundwater, but if groundwater levels drop, the wells could fail.

And also: During public...

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