Some RV parks legally providing dirty water

You need it to survive, we’re talking about water. Even though it’s a necessity several local R.V. Parks have been struggling to provide clean water to residents. However, some R.V. parks can get away with giving their customers dirty, smelly water.

There are more than 20 R.V. parks in the desert southwest, but while some are required by law to provide clean drinkable water, others can get away with dirty water.

Well Trailer Park in Bard, California has been in business since the 1950s. Tom O’Malley the manager says the name used to speak for itself, “We were known for the best water in the valley.”

But over the years, the water quality has gone down. The manager admits he himself doesn’t drink the water, “I don’t prefer it myself. I always get the bottled water.”

Micheal Hargis the co-manager of Sans End RV Park in Winterhaven says last year the water was bad, but since they’ve taken over its been clean. Hargis says, “their’s ways to prevent that and that’s what we do, we have preventive measures for that.”

He adds that the water in the Winterhaven-Yuma is known for not being ideal water, “the water isn’t the best In Yuma as everyone knows.”

The McCoy R.V. Park in Winterhaven gets water from the Quechan Tribe. The owner, Patrick McCoy says they have received complaints about the water.

“The tenants will complain about water and we look at their mobile home and if they don’t have a filter on it then that’s primarily the reason for sulfur in your taste or your smell,” says McCoy.

The Sleepy Hollow R.V. Resort was closed down by the Quechan Tribe because of water issues forcing more than 50 families to move out.

Mimie Clark one of the residents of the now shut down R.V. Park says the water supplied smelled like rotten eggs.

“At first I thought it was just something in the air, but every so often we’d start smelling it was like sulfur,” says Clark. “I don’t ever let the water fall on my eyes cause it burns.”

What makes these R.V. parks so similar is their water systems. Each has one well to get water to the people they serve and have fewer advantages than other water systems.

According to a federal law called the Safe Drinking Water Act there are two types of water systems used for housing.

The first is Community Water Systems that serve water to people year-round like houses or apartment complexes.

The second is Transient Non-Community Water Systems that serve the public but not the same people all year like at RV parks.

Lars Seifert with the Imperial County Division of Environmental Health says, “the water supplied to the RV parks in the Winterhaven area is supplied by either their own groundwater supply well or the community Winterhaven county water district water system.”

The Rivers Edge R.V. Resort and the Winterhaven Trailer Park are both part of a community water system. Winterhaven Water District monitors the water pipes, water wells and conduct frequent tests for quality.

“With a community water system, their best bet if they have some concerns with their water quality is to talk to the water system or to contact our office,” says Seifert.

However, the other three R.V. parks in the area that have transient water systems don’t have the same luxury. Those R.V. parks have to maintain their own water wells with a state inspector only coming out every three months.

“It becomes very difficult when you have your own public water system,” says Seifert. “Basically, you are still a public water system you just maybe don’t have the same kind of oversight that you would with a community water system that has a certified operator.”

Community water systems also have two water wells so if one breaks, they can still get water transient systems only have one.

“An RV park typically will only have for that type of water system will only have a single well so if you were to have a mechanical failure or a pump goes out you are actually without water in the RV park,” says Seifert.

The biggest and most troubling difference between the two systems is the water quality itself.

Seifert says, “there’s a difference in even the standard of water quality that has to be met under state and federal regulations.”

Community systems have stricter quality requirements than transient systems.

“Both for your primary health concerns and for secondary

Siefert says transient water systems only need one requirement and that is safe drinkable water. So it doesn’t have to look or smell good, as long as it’s safe to drink, it passes.

“What we see in the Winterhaven area is those are under the secondary standards for aesthetic and they are safe to drink it’s just that quality issue and a lot of times and RV park if they have their own well they don’t do the treatment like a community water system does. And that’s why you sometimes get a little bit of that odor.”

The other R.V. parks are working to make their water better. Sans End has 50 guests year-round and nearly 170 when winter visitors arrive. Hargis says their well water is good but not the best.

“We are actually putting in a new filtration system in. Our water is fine but again it is well water,” says Hargis. “If you turn your head away from it slightly and don’t do the preventive measures. Then you are going to have problems.”

McCoy encourages guests to install a filter for the water.

“We recommend a filter because when it does come into the park through our four, two-inch lines then it sits in their water hose a little bit and that can have a funny smell. It’s just a sulfur type of smell.”

There have been no recent cases of water being shut down in Winterhaven but the community water system in Winterhaven does have a well that is down. They are using the backup well to provide water to the public.