It’s the dead of autumn and there’s no sign that the California drought will ease up. When wells run dry the immediate answer is to dig a new one, but they’re expensive. In some parts of the state there’s been an uptick in water theft, but in Central California many homeowners are turning to a legal water solution that’s not dependent on city water lines.
Eugene Keeney hooks his 2,500-gallon water truck up to a fire hydrant outside Fresno, in Clovis. On the south side of Shepherd Avenue — in the city of Clovis — the grass is green and still moist, with the water from daily running sprinklers piped in from Clovis’ water system. But the north unincorporated side of Shepherd Avenue is in Fresno County, where residents chose not to connect to the city’s water system some years back. From this side of the road all you see are brown yards and dirt driveways.
Sometimes Keeney, with his water delivery company NRK Services, delivers drinking water as far as 50 miles away, but today his trip is shorter, across the street. “In this little neighborhood here, I have probably about 10 to 15 customers,” Keeney says.
Demand brings him all over Central California. “I’ve got calls from Sanger, I’ve got calls from Del Rey, I’ve got calls from Easton, Visalia, Oakhurst, Bass Lake,” Keeney says.
Keeney, who delivers water legally, says the calls for deliveries began two months early this year. Last year Clovis sold 33 million gallons of water to contractors like Keeney. He says the calls increase when farmers with crops near residential areas begin to irrigate.
“It’s the straw effect, long straw and short straw,” Keeney says. “You know they’re 1,000 feet deep, homeowners are a couple hundred feet deep, so as soon as you start drawing, the water table drops and you lose your water.”
This is how the water delivery truck system works in Clovis. Keeney checks out a water meter from the city, he tells the clerk what hydrants he’ll draw from, he self-reports the gallons pumped over the phone, pays his bill and brings his meter in every six months for evaluation. It costs him only $3.50 or so to fill his 2,500-gallon truck. That’s the same rate people who live in Clovis pay. Keeney’s profit is about $147 per truckload.
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/11/17/california-drought-water-delivery-trucks/