Cars line up for free bottled water in Mabton, which has been plagued by foul-smelling tap water
MABTON — A line of cars snaked through Mabton, around corners and under the looming water towers near the city’s center, until it arrived at the Mabton Food Bank on the corner of Fern Street and Main Street.
People in dozens and dozens of cars waited patiently Tuesday at a free water distribution event. Drivers shuffled forward, checking in with staff from nonprofit Empower Latina Leadership and Action, or ELLA, which donated the water.
“Acá, acá,” a volunteer said in Spanish, pointing a few feet up the sidewalk. Pull up here.
Volunteers swarmed around a pallet piled high with cases of water, moving the bottles into back seats, trunks and truck beds. They worked as the evening wore on, until the line of cars became a line of headlights in the gathering dark in the city of around 1,000.
ELLA donated almost 700 cases of water. More than 230 families received water on Tuesday.
Trouble at the taps
Mabton residents have been frustrated by foul-smelling water for years and said this summer has been worse. Many report a pungent, rotten-egg smell, as well as turbid or yellowish water, coming out of their taps and faucets.
State and city officials said the city’s water meets health standards, though the situation isn’t ideal. Long term solutions, including a new well set to open this month, are in the works.
ELLA, a nonprofit focused on community advocacy, has stepped in to provide some short-term relief in the last two weeks with free bottled water distributions on Sept. 25 and Oct. 3.
“We care about Mabton residents. I lived in Mabton for several years with my family when I was just a little girl. I still have many family members living in Mabton,” said ELLA Executive Director Maria Fernandez in an email. “We also want to be responsive to urgent requests from community members.”
“We were contacted by several Mabton residents and two Mabton City Council members, (Vera) Zavala and (Arturo) De La Fuente, who were very concerned that clean drinking water was not readily available to residents,” Fernandez added. “And that there was not an adequate emergency response on the part of city leadership.”
Residents could bring paperwork or photos of paperwork to prove they lived in Mabton and receive cases of drinking water depending on the size of their household.
Aida Ramirez, who has lived in Mabton for two decades, was thankful for the water provided. She attended the Sept. 25 and Oct. 3 event. The problem has been around for years, she said, but this was something new.
“Es algo diferente,” Ramirez said while waiting in her car, it’s something different.
Ramirez is one of many residents who buys the water she uses from the store. This is an opportunity to save money.
“If I don’t have to buy it, it’s better,” she said.
Mabton resident Sergio Hernandez agreed – this was a chance to save after paying for city utilities.
“The water is so bad, that’s why I came down here,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez used to work for the city, he said, and he knows the water problem is difficult to solve and ongoing. He would drink his tap water if he could, he added, noting the technical difficulties Mabton has faced in improving its drinking water.
Officials said the problem originates in Mabton’s most productive well. Building new wells should help dilute the water that creates the smell issues or allow the city to shut off the bad well and clean it.
Distributions
ELLA is the first group to provide some form of relief for residents this summer and partnered with the Mabton Food Bank on the event.
Amber Powell volunteers at the food bank, which is open on Friday mornings. She said there are around 130 families on average at the food bank every week. At the Sept. 25 water distribution, she said 240 families received water.
Powell added that it was a chance to connect with community members who may not normally come to the food bank. She said volunteers also delivered water to more than 20 homes for residents who could not drive.
“We wanted to make sure we made a difference in the community,” Martinez said. “When we realized nobody was really helping with the water, when we saw all these people not really doing anything, we decided to donate some water.”
Residents were required to show some form of identification and a bill or form to verify their name and address. “Anything that shows that you actually live there,” Martinez said.
ELLA ran out of water early on Sept. 25. Martinez said some families would come back multiple times before others had an opportunity to get any water at all.
“There were still families showing up after and we didn’t have any left. It was sad,” Martinez said.
At the Oct. 3 event, ELLA took a more deliberate approach, asking residents to show their address in Mabton and tracking households and family sizes to make sure people had an equal chance to get water.
Even photos of bills or IDs were accepted – volunteers spent much of the evening walking down the long line of cars and asking people to get those documents ready.
Martinez said ELLA is open to collaborating with other community members. So far, ELLA has been donating the water on its own and the Mabton Food Bank has volunteered to host events.
Fernandez said ELLA is working with state and federal agencies to get funding and improve communication about the water issue. ELLA is open to working with the city of Mabton to find funding sources or provide immediate relief, Fernandez added.
City council members Vera Zavala and Arturo De La Fuente along with city council candidate Natalie Palomarez volunteered at the water distribution.
“It would be great if other organizations would want to help,” Martinez said. “However people want to help us, they can come down, that would be great.”
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen’s reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
