Notices at Buena Vista Migrant Center inform residents of potentially harmful chemicals in the tap water. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local)
WATSONVILLE >> For years, questionable tap water at two farmworker housing complexes near Buena Vista Drive has left residents to buy gallons of bottled water for cooking and drinking.
Because of high levels of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” found in the water, its well is expected to be the first small-scale water utility in California to get a water filtration system to tackle the problem. Buena Vista Migrant Center at 113 Tierra Alta Drive houses about 300 seasonal workers and their families. The migrant housing and the well are managed by the Stanislaus Regional Housing Authority.
“We don’t drink the water,” said Buena Vista resident Lupe Rocha. She’s lived at the 102-unit complex and worked at Santa Cruz County farms from about April to December for the past six years. “We buy gallons and bottles to drink, also for cooking,” Rocha said.
The filter system was installed in the fall, but it has not been switched on as of Friday because county officials have not yet granted permits. Details of filtering have taken longer than expected, said Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Specialist Nathan Salazar.
“Part of what we’re still fine-tuning is some sort of sampling plan to monitor the performance of the treatment system,” Salazar said, as well as “some of the details with how it’s all set up.” The permits should be issued within a month, Salazar said Tuesday.
Resident Maria Elena Castillo, 65, said she uses the tap water to cook, but she buys water for drinking. “I have to go to town to get water to drink,” she said. She said it can be a pain to find someone with a car to help her bring gallons of water home.
The well with the new filter also serves farmworker families who live year round at the 36-unit Tierra Alta Apartments at 101 Tierra Alta Drive.
“We never know if it’s safe,” one Tierra Alta resident said of the water.
Resident Luisa Cruz said she doesn’t drink the tap water, but she wasn’t sure if there were problems. She said she received a flier about the water problems in the fall in English, but she and many others there are native Spanish speakers.
“My husband and my son drink the water” but haven’t had any problems, she said in Spanish.
Other residents said they received fliers in both languages.
Most tenants said they have used bottled water for cooking or drinking for years. Some said they avoided the tap water even before the PFAS problem was discovered in 2019.
Tierra Alta Apartments are managed by the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz. Jenny Panetta, director of the housing authority, said the company that operates the well is responsible for the water quality and notifying residents.
‘Forever chemicals’ in water
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of synthetic chemicals used in many products, from non-stick pans to firefighting foam. They are known as forever chemicals because they break down extremely slowly, and over time build up in the environment and in human bodies.
Some studies have linked long term exposure to some PFAS with health harms like kidney cancer, increased cholesterol and hormone disruption. Exposure to even low levels of some PFAS has been linked to health problems. However, some county authorities have downplayed health concerns from PFAS in drinking water because of the chemicals’ ubiquity in California and elsewhere.
“It’s really the long-term exposure that they’re concerned with,” said Jim Kruse, director of Stanislaus Regional Housing Authority, which manages Buena Vista Migrant Center. In February, Kruse said he was eager to get the filter running and that he expected to get permits from the county before residents arrived in April.
Buena Vista Migrant Center has been operated by Stanislaus Regional Housing Authority since 2022. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local)
Federal and state regulations for PFAS in drinking water remain in early stages.
Of the thousands of PFAS that exist, two are expected to have federal limits for contamination in drinking water — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). Both are present in the well water that serves Buena Vista and Tierra Alta, and PFOA tested over the “response level” that requires notification to residents.
A community meeting was held in the fall at Buena Vista, and paper notices were sent to residents of both complexes. State water authorities recommend, but do not require, that if a contaminant exceeds the response level that the water source be taken out of service.
A proposed federal limit of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS is expected to be legally enforceable no sooner than 2031. The Environmental Protection Agency this month announced plans to push off a 2029 deadline.
The level of PFOA at the Buena Vista and Tierra Alta well is not high enough to be “associated with immediate health concerns,” according to a notice posted in English and Spanish in the laundry room at Buena Vista. “Some people who drink water containing PFOA over many years may experience liver effects, and may be at greater risk in developing cancer,” the notice stated.
Santa Cruz County officials have been collaborating with the state Division of Drinking Water on the permitting process. The water filter cost about $250,000, paid for by the state Housing and Community Development’s Office of Migrant Services. It will also reduce other contaminants in the water including hexavalent chromium, Salazar said.
Unknown contamination source
California authorities in 2019 ordered hundreds of water tests across the state — near landfills, airports, military bases and other potential sources of PFAS groundwater contamination. The well for Buena Vista and Tierra Alta and the well for nearby Rountree jail facility were tested because of their proximity to the Buena Vista Landfill.
However, a December report from the county revealed that the landfill is likely not the culprit and more testing or analysis would be needed to determine the source of the contamination. County staff “continue to collaborate with regional and state agencies to identify potential sources of contamination and evaluate next steps,” county spokesperson Tiffany Martinez wrote in an email.
A report is due this summer with potential next steps to find the source of the PFAS contamination, wrote Dimitri Stanich, a California State Water Resources Control Board spokesman, in an email. “In the meantime, the County is required to continue PFAS groundwater monitoring at the Buena Vista Landfill,” he wrote.
Noticias Watsonville reporter Fidel M. Soto and Santa Cruz Local correspondent Jesse Greenspan contributed to this report.
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Nik Altenberg is a bilingual reporter and assistant editor at Santa Cruz Local. Nik Altenberg es reportera bilingüe y redactora asistente para Santa Cruz Local.
