Water situation

For those of you who are wondering, here's a little update & back story on our water situation. I'll start at the beginning...

Last summer, our well quit pumping water. We thought we were completely out because of the drought situation. We called a well company & they came out & were able to drop our pump about 15 feet & we had water again. Yay! Fast forward to March-running water, then BAM. No more water :(
We knew we couldn't drop our pump anymore, so our well was dry. We called our county who is responsible for drought assistance & they have a waiting list you can get on to get a tank of water, which is piped into your house & refilled every week or every other week. Awesome! We were told it would be a month or 2 waiting list, which was fine, and we hooked onto the neighbors house with a hose. We were super conservative with water, only showering every other day, using all paper & plastic, not watering the lawn, recycling the kids' bath water to water flowers, etc. Our water was being provided through a 100' hose that connected us to the neighboring property. When the sun would shine on the hose, the water coming out into the house was literally scalding hot & would bubble and smelled & tasted like rubber. So I hooked us up with Sparkletts & we received a water cooler with hot & cold water & however many 5 gallon jugs of drinking water I need every week, which we pay for. A couple of weeks passed & we called the county to see where we were at & were told we weren't on the list. Apparently they had no record of our phone call, so we went through all the questions again & we were assured we were on the list this time & it would be handled. April came & went and we never received our tank. In May, I started calling & after a few times of being told, "I'm away from my desk, call me Monday" or "I'll look it up & call you back," I would get busy with the kids & I ASSUMED they had it handled & we were on the list. In July, we called again & were wondering what was going on. Apparently, all of our information was lost AGAIN & we weren't on the list. So we went through all the information in hopes that they wouldn't lose it this time. Two days later, our neighbors well & our only source of water, went dry. I was FURIOUS!! If we had been on the list like we were supposed to have been at the beginning, we would have already had our tank hooked up & water coming every week. After a little venting post on Facebook, a friend helped get the ball rolling. Someone called us & apologized about the situation & an assessor was out the next day. We were told we would have a tank in 2 weeks. Three & a half weeks later, we called to find out why we STILL didn't have a water tank & we were told that the permit was pulled a week prior & that we should be getting it any day. After another weekend of no water tank, having to go elsewhere to shower, many arguments with the husband & high stress levels, I called on Monday of this week. I was NOT happy & I made sure they understood the entirety of the situation & exactly why I was so upset. I wasn't rude, but I was firm & I made my expectations clear. We received a phone call stating that we were scheduled for install on Thursday. The following day, 2 tanks were delivered. Two beautiful, glorious tanks that will hold water & give us the ability to flush toilets, wash our hands, bathe our children & live a somewhat normal life! I was on cloud 9!!! The next day, Thursday (yesterday), they came & installed them. Hooked them to the house & had them all ready to go. The installer told me they would be here any minute with water. We decided to wait for water instead of going to run errands & stuff. We couldn't wait to take a shower in our own home & even the kids were excited to not have a sponge bath. About 4:30, I called because we still didn't have water. I was told we were on the schedule for that day & that they work 12 hour shifts so it could be any time. Finally, we had a birthday party to attend & I went to get shampoo & a few other things I needed in anticipation of a hot shower! Came home from the party, NOTHING!!! Needless to say, I wanted to cry. I went to bed, very unhappy & woke up ready to make some heads roll. Up to this point, I have been very nice every time I've had to call someone. I was on the phone first thing this morning & I made sure they understood my displeasure. I STILL don't have water, although I'm told the water delivery driver is one of the better ones & they're supposedly calling him & he would more than likely be delivering water right away. And nobody seems to have any answers as to why the water wasn't delivered yesterday, as scheduled. So I let them know that, considering all of the times I've had to call & stay on top of it, that I'm very concerned that I will have to call them weekly wondering where our water is. And believe me, if I don't have water by noon today, I WILL be calling, AGAIN & speaking to a supervisor. We're in the home stretch & once we get the temporary water figured out, we've already got the line out for a new well. Which is a significant amount of money that we don't really have, but I guess we have to do what we have to do. This has been an extremely frustrating situation. And I also want to add that we pay taxes to our irrigation district & the purpose for those taxes is for them to release ground water and keep the aquifers filled up. There is absolutely no point in lake success having any water in it, other than for recreation. It should be released & used as a starting point to replenish the ground water. There are currently no plans made by the state to build holding areas for future drought issues, there is no water coming from up north to help out the Central Valley & farmers continue to have no restriction on ground water pumping, which is depleting the aquifers. They can pump ground water for cheaper than they can get their water from the irrigation district, so when the drought subsides a little, what will happen? Do you think they'll pay more for the irrigation district water or will they continue to pump the ground water & deplete the aquifer? I'm not anti farmer, at all. I'm just tired of being made to feel like residents don't matter, only the farmers matter. I apologize for my rant & I apologize if I offend anyone, but please understand where I am coming from. And also, please pray for my sanity! I prayed before I made the phone call this morning, just so that I didn't lose it over the phone. I don't want to be a horrible person, but I continue to be tested & my patience has grown very thin. I sometimes wonder if people only like me because of Bryan, because everyone thinks he's the nice one. He always maintains his cool, to everyone else, and I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. It's hard being a girl sometimes! Lol! I'm praying for other people in similar situations as ours & I pray there's an end in sight. I don't want to move & leave our home behind, but I'm about ready to throw in the towel. I'm praying that today brings us the help we need because I don't think I can do it for another weekend :(


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