Indio residents independently test water after well reopens
A group of Indio residents, who turned on their taps back in August to discover brown water coming out, have independently tested their water and discovered higher-than-average levels of hexavalent chromium, a pollutant.
Indio Water Authority explained the brown water was caused by a well being brought back online, after that well and 12 others were taken out of service in 2015 to meet new, stricter hexavalent chromium regulations.
Concerned about why the previously closed well was being put back into use, Indian Palm community resident Beth Warren started doing some digging.
“We were thinking — we kind of want to have the water tested,” Warren said. “That would be a good idea. … Someone has to have a voice so someone has to do the dirty work.”
Warren started a GoFundMe page, raising $500 in just a few days to ship water samples out for testing.
“Unless people are really doing their research, you don’t really know what the numbers are,” Warren said.
The test results came back with a hexavalent chromium level of 11 parts per billion, higher than what was previously permitted in California.
But in 2017, the State Water Board took those stricter hexavalent chromium regulations out of effect, writing they weren’t economically feasible to comply with.
And following that repeal, the current chromium levels are well within the state’s regulations.
“It is something that we’re also concerned with and we’re not going stop being concerned with it just because the (maximum contaminant level) has been repealed,” said Brian Macy, general manager of Indio Water Authority. “We expect them to come back with the new maximum containment level and when they do we will meet that one as well.”
Since those stricter regulations were repealed in 2017, the State Water Board is working to adopt a new maximum contaminant level for hexavalent chromium, but it may not be ready for up to a year.
In the mean time, Indio’s water is up to state standards.
Download the KESQ & CBS Local 2 app on iTunes or Google Play for up-to-the-minute breaking news alerts & more
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
Find us on Facebook: KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2
Follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates: @KESQ & @Local2
We’re on Instagram! @KESQ_News_Channel_3 & @CBSLocal2
Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
