Drought Relief Resources

Drought Relief Resources

Posted on February 9, 2015

California is facing the worst drought in over a century and many of our communities in the San Joaquin Valley have been severely affected. With families filling barrels and carrying buckets of water from the nearest available water source or running hoses from a neighbor’s home, daily activities like taking a shower, cooking and cleaning have become a challenging task.

Self-Help Enterprises is working with communities and families to provide immediate, interim assistance to residents affected by the drought, while working toward long-term solutions. As an interim solution, Self-Help Enterprises successfully piloted a solution that restores water to a home whose well has run dry. A certified water hauler fills a 300 to 1,500 gallon tank with water. Using a small pump and PVC pipes, the water is pumped directly into a household’s plumbing thereby restoring water.

With a $50,000 donation from Bank of the Sierra, Self-Help Enterprises is working collaboratively with organizations, including CSET-Community Services Employment Training and the Porterville Area Coordinating Council, to ensure more residents with dry wells receive this type of emergency assistance. Having water available through the water tank system is an optimal solution for sanitation, hygiene, and cleaning, which reduces health risks.

For information about water tank installations in Tulare County contact United Way at 211. Residents in all other counties may contact Self-Help Enterprises at: 559-802-1685 or
DROUGHTSUPPORT@SELFHELPENTERPRISES.ORG

If you have been impacted by the drought, Self-Help Enterprises offers additional resources that may help you respond to drought conditions, including: 

• Low-interest loans for private wells:  Fixing or replacing a private well that has failed can be expensive and complicated. Self-Help Enterprises helps qualified homeowners access low-interest loans to drill a new private well, deepen an existing private well or lower a pump in an existing well. For more information and specifics about our current loan program, please visit this page or call Self-Help Enterprises Loan Processor Julie Cabañas at (559) 802-1610.
• Delivery of bottled drinking water: Depending on where you live, bottled water delivery may be available at no cost to you.  Contact Self-Help Enterprises staff member Léon Romanazzi at (559) 802-1656 for more information.

For additional resources including a list of well drillers and pump installers, rental assistance, water conservation kits, pre-packaged food boxes and water efficiency rebates, visit our Drought Resources page.

For tips to conserve water indoors and outdoors, visit Save Our Water.