Avenal will get an emergency allotment of water to prevent the dire scenario of the city going completely dry this year, a Bureau of Reclamation official announced Tuesday.
The amount – 450 acre-feet – had been requested by Avenal officials. They calculated it was enough to meet the town’s basic needs through March 1, 2015, when the bureau announces the 2015-2016 allocation.
Bureau officials also confirmed that additional water would be made available for Coalinga and Huron.
Avenal City Manager Melissa Whitten said in an interview Tuesday afternoon said that she was waiting for official confirmation from the bureau.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster to worry about our community, to make sure the health and safety needs are met,” Whitten said. “I would like to jump for joy, but I’m not going to until I get the official word.”
The Hamblin Mutual Water Co. subdivision in east Hanford notified city and county officials today that its well had gone dry, the Kings County Department of Public Health said.
The company, which serves about 40 residences in east Hanford, informed the Kings County Board of Supervisors and the city at 5 a.m. that the system had failed. Earlier this afternoon, a temporary connection was made to Hanford’s municipal water system.
Residents of the Hamblin Mutual Water Co. were notified of the well failure and instructed to use boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes as a precaution. Residents were also ordered to stop all outdoor irrigation and landscape water use.