Maybe you’ve received a boil-water notice after an emergency, like a flood. The water may not be safe to drink for a few hours or days – health officials recommend using bottled water. Now imagine that notice lasts for 10 years, or longer. Yes, this is the 21st century and yes, this is in the United States. But residents of the South County town of San Lucas, population 324, have been under do-not-drink orders for over a decade, ever since testing by Monterey County’s Environmental Health Bureau revealed that nitrates in the water supply exceeded levels deemed safe for human consumption. “We are requiring the use of bottled water or water from an approved source for drinking or cooking,” a July 7, 2011 notice from the Health Department read. “Research is being done to find another water source.” That research is still ongoing, with a glimmer of possibility that a solution is in sight.
—Written by Sara Rubin, the Weekly’s editor