Water District Completes Clean Water Project: What This Means For Residents

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA — Mobile home communities in eastern Coachella Valley will now have access to a basic human need: clean, safe water from the tap.

An ongoing pipeline project designed to provide clean, accessible water to residents living in eastern Coachella Valley has at last been completed, Coachella Valley Water District officials announced Tuesday.

Known as the Avenue 66 Transmission project, or the Saint Anthony Mobile Home Park Water Consolidation project, depending on who you ask, the district has finished installing over 26,000 linear feet of water pipes along Avenue 66.

The project connects to three mobile home parks -- Saint Anthony, Seferino Huerta and Manuela Garcia -- and will supply water to the communities of Mecca and North Shore. CVWD Board Vice President Castulo Estrada issued a statement on the completion of this task.

"Access to safe, affordable water and sewer services brings additional benefits, including new housing opportunities and economic growth," he said.

Previously, numerous residents in the eastern Coachella Valley received water from failing or at-risk private water systems and unreliable sanitation systems, district officials said.

"The work of CVWD and its Disadvantaged Communities Infrastructure Task Force on the Avenue 66 project is a model on how to build the partnership necessary to bring safe drinking water to the 2% of Californians who still don't have it," Board Chair Joaquin Equivel said.

The project is a multi-year effort aimed at improving water quality for residents in the Valley. Funding for the work includes a $23.4 million grant from the State Water Resources Board and a $7 million grant from the Department of Water Resources.