Officials from state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies tour the water treatment plant in Keyes, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The drinking water system for Keyes is getting $20.4 million from the federal infrastructure bill for water treatment projects.
Keyes is getting $20.4 million of the $609 million announced Wednesday for clean-water projects in California.
The money comes from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed nearly a year ago by President Joe Biden. It will go to projects that remove pollutants from water, many of them in largely low-income places like Keyes.
Officials gathered at a plant that already filters arsenic from wells supplying the 1,500 or so customers of the Keyes Community Services District. The new funding includes a $10.4 million grant that pays off a state loan that had funded the project, completed in 2019.
Another $10 million grant will add treatment of a chemical called 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a relic of pesticide use in the Keyes area. It is scheduled to be in place by 2024, district General Manager Ernie Garza said.
The event included Yana Garcia, environmental protection secretary for Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Martha Guzman, regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We’re here at the Keyes Community Services District because it is a great example of the kind of projects that we should be investing in,” Garcia said.
Garza said his customers would have faced sharp water rate increases without the grants.
Other projects to be announced
The $609 million will be distributed by the State Water Resources Control Board. It has not yet announced where the money will go besides Keyes.
The bipartisan infrastructure act will provide funding over five years for transportation, water, broadband, energy, forestry and other efforts. California is adding substantial funding thanks to its $97 billion budget surplus.
Arsenic occurs naturally in groundwater but at high levels can cause cancer and problems with skin and blood circulation, according to the state board. It said 1,2,3-trichloropropane is a carcinogen.
Five outlying water users
The plant was built on Jessup Road, just west of Highway 99. The project included the town of Keyes, four mobile home parks in the area, and the Faith Home Ranch addiction treatment center. These outlying sites have private wells that were connected to the plant with 2.5 miles of pipeline.
“We’ve been on board for three years now, and we’re happy to see this additional treatment,” said Margo Ely, recently retired operations supervisor for Faith Home.
The other outlying connections were to Mobile Plaza Park, Countryside Mobile Home Park, Green Run Mobile Estates and Orchard Village Mobile Home Park.
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John Holland covers agriculture, transportation and general assignment news. He has been with The Modesto Bee since 2000 and previously worked at newspapers in Sonora and Visalia. He was born and raised in San Francisco and has a journalism degree from UC Berkeley.
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