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Speaker 1: Oilt.

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Speaker 2: Dear listener, here's a show from our archives. It originally

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Speaker 2: aired in twenty seventeen, and we're bringing this story back

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Speaker 2: today because the Coachella Valley is in the news again.

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Speaker 2: The New York Times reported this summer that the Oasis

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Speaker 2: mobile home Park in the eastern Coachella Valley still doesn't

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Speaker 2: have access to clean and safe drinking water. It's a

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Speaker 2: community of about one thousand people. The Times reported that

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Speaker 2: the Environmental Protection Agency the EPA, found that the mobile

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Speaker 2: home park had almost ten times more than the allowed

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Speaker 2: limit of arsenic. People at the park experience problems like

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Speaker 2: hair loss, rashes, kidney disease. Cancer advocates and residents say

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Speaker 2: the contaminated water could have caused any of this. In

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Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, our then producer Antonia Serejido went on a

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Speaker 2: trip to the Coachella Valley, and when she came back,

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Speaker 2: she sat down in the studio to talk to me

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Speaker 2: about it.

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Speaker 3: All.

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Speaker 2: Right, here's the story. I did see that you were

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Speaker 2: traveling to California, and then I did see that you

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Speaker 2: were traveling to Coachella, and of course I was like,

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Speaker 2: why is Antonia going to Coachella?

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Speaker 4: Did you assume that I was going to the music festival.

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Speaker 2: I did, which you know, I have all kinds of

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Speaker 2: issues around the music festival.

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Speaker 4: What are your issues around the music?

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Speaker 2: I actually don't know anything about it, except you know

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Speaker 2: what I occasionally might see in a magazine that I

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Speaker 2: pick up in an airport. Yeah, you should not be

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Speaker 2: paying that amount of money to go see music, no

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Speaker 2: matter what. I don't care.

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Speaker 4: Well, So I obviously had heard of the Coachella Music Festival.

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Speaker 4: It's probably the most famous music festival in the whole country.

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Speaker 4: And I'm from southern California, so like all the girls

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Speaker 4: in my high school.

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Speaker 5: Went Flower crowns Jean Shorts.

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Speaker 4: When I think of Coachella, I think of eightym music

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Speaker 4: and like dudes and tops. I don't think I realized

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Speaker 4: until recently that Coachella is the name of the entire

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Speaker 4: desert valley. It's two hours east of Los Angeles driving

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Speaker 4: and it's a very large valley. It's right by the

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Speaker 4: Saltan Sea, and one of the small things that happens

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Speaker 4: is this music festival, and then the rest of the

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Speaker 4: year it's this other place. The thing about Coachella is

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Speaker 4: that there are really two different Coachella's there's the west

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Speaker 4: side with palm springs and beautiful resorts and golf courses,

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Speaker 4: and then there's the east side, which is where I

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Speaker 4: met Kaime lemos ibarra jes.

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Speaker 6: Parrett a Linian palmd Hotel.

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Speaker 4: Yoso so Kaimi cleans pools for a living at the

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Speaker 4: Indian Palms Hotel, which is this big resort on the

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Speaker 4: west side, and he's been working there for around fifteen years.

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Speaker 4: So he lives on the east side in a mobile

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Speaker 4: home park called Saint Anthony's and him and his fellow St.

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Speaker 4: Anthony's resident, Roberto Mendees Gomez, actually told me a story

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Speaker 4: that really struck me. He told me that he would

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Speaker 4: come back from these long, long hours, these long days

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Speaker 4: where he was doing hard manual labor cleaning these pools

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Speaker 4: and the intense sun.

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Speaker 5: He'd go home, he was tired. He'd turn on the

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Speaker 5: faucet and.

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Speaker 4: Mud was coming out of the faucet and the water

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Speaker 4: was super dirty.

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Speaker 5: They told me it was an emergency simplemente. The well

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Speaker 5: in the park had just completely broken down.

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Speaker 3: Salvi and.

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Speaker 2: And then he says that when they tried to wash

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Speaker 2: the clothes with the water, the clothes would actually come

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Speaker 2: out dirtier than when they started. Yeah, so I'm having

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Speaker 2: a moment. I'm like, wait a second, and this this

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Speaker 2: exists within the same community.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, when I was in Coachella, a term that Bob Kieran,

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Speaker 4: who works at the Coachella Water Valley District, used, and

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Speaker 4: I think is perfect, is he called the valley a

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Speaker 4: valley of contrasts. And there's the situation.

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Speaker 5: We're on the west side.

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Speaker 4: You have these pristine resorts, some of the most famous

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Speaker 4: golf courses in the whole country, and then the people

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Speaker 4: who are cleaning those resorts don't have access to clean water.

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Speaker 2: But of course, the other thing that I'm thinking about is, wait,

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Speaker 2: where have I heard this before? Flint, Michigan.

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Speaker 4: So what's happening in Coachella is actually very different than

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Speaker 4: what happened in Flint, Michigan.

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Speaker 7: Intentions running high in Flint, Michigan as the city's water

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Speaker 7: crisis continue.

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Speaker 8: Residents say they've suffered skin lesions, hair and visional loss,

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Speaker 8: and depression.

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Speaker 9: There are also concerns about miscarriages, learning disabilities, and children

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Speaker 9: and legion.

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Speaker 4: They had a water source that was poisoned. It had

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Speaker 4: lead poisoning in the water and city and state officials

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Speaker 4: knew about it, and they decided to turn an eye

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Speaker 4: in Coachella. Really, the issue is that these are privately

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Speaker 4: run wells on the East Side, and it's really unclear

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Speaker 4: who's supposed to take charge of those wells and take

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Speaker 4: responsibility for this lack of access to clean water. But

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Speaker 4: so that's why I want to Coachella to find out

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Speaker 4: why is it that in twenty seventeen there are people

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Speaker 4: without access to clean water and who is responsible for

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Speaker 4: what's going on? And while I didn't have the answer

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Speaker 4: to all of those questions, I heard of a man

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Speaker 4: who has made it his life mission to solve the

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Speaker 4: problem of lack of access to water in the Eastern Valley.

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Speaker 4: He's a Mexican American civil engineer named Gastulo Estrada.

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Speaker 2: From Futuro Media and PRX It's Latino USA. I'm Maria

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Speaker 2: in no Josa. Today we'll be looking into Gastulo's story

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Speaker 2: and his role in solving the water problem, and will

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Speaker 2: delve deep into the history of why this water access

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Speaker 2: problem happened here in Coachella in the first place. We're

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Speaker 2: going to be looking into Gastulo's story and what his

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Speaker 2: role is in solving this water problem, and we're going

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Speaker 2: to delve into the history of why this water access

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Speaker 2: problem happened right here in the Coachalla Valley in the

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Speaker 2: first place. So tell me what happened after you met Gastulo.

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Speaker 4: So the first place Castulo took me to was his

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Speaker 4: first civil engineering project he ever worked on.

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Speaker 9: This park is one of the city's oldest park. It's

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Speaker 9: called Bagdouoma Park. So this whole thing here, I saw

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Speaker 9: it when it.

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Speaker 6: Was all dirt.

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Speaker 4: Gastado's job is to draw plans for infrastructure projects, almost

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Speaker 4: like he's a creator of IKEA manuals.

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Speaker 2: What do you mean IKEA manuals?

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Speaker 4: Like he creates the plan, but then somebody else executes it,

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Speaker 4: so he's actually always surprised about how it turns out.

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Speaker 9: I think like the way I describe it at being

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Speaker 9: my first project that I worked on is almost I

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Speaker 9: imagine like when you cook.

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Speaker 6: I imagine a cook.

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Speaker 9: He knows exactly all the little things that he did,

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Speaker 9: and he probably thinks, man, I should have done this,

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Speaker 9: And if you didn't cook it and you're just eating it,

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Speaker 9: you probably think, man, that thing tastes great. I can't

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Speaker 9: really think of what else I could have done. What's

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Speaker 9: the same thing with the project? I know exactly where

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Speaker 9: there's maybe like a little thing that I don't like,

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Speaker 9: like the little details, the way we put the bumps,

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Speaker 9: the traffic bumps. I would have done it different. I

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Speaker 9: would have staggered them. Right now they're not staggered, and

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Speaker 9: I think they're too frequent.

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Speaker 2: I love the fact that he's so kind of geeky, dorky.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, he sees the world differently, Like you know,

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Speaker 4: I don't drive down the street and think about like, oh,

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Speaker 4: the stoplight could have been four inches to the right.

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Speaker 4: And he's an engineer, so engineers inherently are more aware

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Speaker 4: of issues that deal with city planning and resources. But

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Speaker 4: the thing that makes Castulo really uniquely qualified to sort

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Speaker 4: of talk about the issues of the eastern Coachelle Valley

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Speaker 4: is that he's from there.

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Speaker 9: Where are we We're in the community of Oasis. I

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Speaker 9: call it Oasses. It's an unincorporated area. This is where

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Speaker 9: I grew up.

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Speaker 4: So Oasis is one of these mobile home parks. It's

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Speaker 4: smaller than Saint Anthony's Mobile home Park, which we visited

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Speaker 4: at the top of the show.

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Speaker 5: But Saint Anthony's.

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Speaker 4: It's in an unincorporated area, which means it has no

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Speaker 4: city government and it falls under the purview of the

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Speaker 4: county in this case Riverside County. But unincorporated means that

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Speaker 4: it doesn't have its own police department or its own ambulances.

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Speaker 4: And most importantly for this story, no one provides water

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Speaker 4: for them. So the people in the area they dig

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Speaker 4: their own water wells and they control them completely independently.

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Speaker 4: For someone whose whole life is about infrastructure, Gasolo didn't

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Speaker 4: grow up with much infrastructure, if any. When I spent

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Speaker 4: the week with him driving around the Coachella Valley, there

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Speaker 4: was one word he kept using to describe the East

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Speaker 4: Side and the way he grew up.

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Speaker 5: It's different, what sorts of things are different, specifically.

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Speaker 6: With just the conditions. You know, what do you see?

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Speaker 6: I mean, there's nothing here.

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Speaker 9: There's no street, there's no sidewalk, There isn't any parks

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Speaker 9: around here to go to. There isn't any stores there,

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Speaker 9: there's not a Starbucks.

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Speaker 5: You know, the irony of this place being called oasis.

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Speaker 2: Right, But then he corrected you. Instead, it's actually they

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Speaker 2: all say oh asses because they say it in Spanish.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, everyone there spoke Spanish. Most of the people there

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Speaker 4: work in agriculture. On top of the services being bad

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Speaker 4: in these parks, you know, we heard about the wells

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Speaker 4: breaking down, the clothes coming out dirty.

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Speaker 5: There was another bigger problem.

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Speaker 9: When I used to take showers as a kid, we'd

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Speaker 9: have to fill up a bucket and then I just

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Speaker 9: that was the water I used to shower. Whether that

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Speaker 9: water that was coming in was clean or not clean,

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Speaker 9: and I mean it wasn't. You couldn't tell from looking

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Speaker 9: at it that it was that there was levels of arsenic.

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Speaker 10: Arsenic.

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Speaker 2: Are you serious?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Arsenic.

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Speaker 4: In twenty ten, the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, found

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Speaker 4: that the state, the whole state of California, was in

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Speaker 4: non compliance with the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act because

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Speaker 4: of arsenic. Over fifty five thousand California residents were being

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Speaker 4: served with water that had illegal amounts of arsenic. In

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Speaker 4: high doses, it's poisonous and at las over time, it's

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Speaker 4: a carcinogen, so it can cause cancer. And one of

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Speaker 4: the places where these high levels of arsenic was found

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Speaker 4: was in private wells in these mobile home parks. Saint

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Speaker 4: Anthony's the one that we heard from at the top

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Speaker 4: is on the list of the top ten mobile home

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Speaker 4: parks with the highest levels of arsenic in the state.

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Speaker 2: My god.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and as one would expect, when the people on

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Speaker 4: the East side found out about the arsenic, they stopped

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Speaker 4: trusting their wells.

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Speaker 5: See this is Marta Benitez.

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Speaker 4: She's been in the States for over thirty years. She

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Speaker 4: used to pick grapes, and Gastello took me to meet

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Speaker 4: her because her and her husband are two of those

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Speaker 4: people who stop trusting their wells. She told me that

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Speaker 4: the water that comes into her trailer has arsenic. But

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Speaker 4: I know.

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Speaker 2: Si pourquet filters appendent Sposilo filter. So Martha says that

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Speaker 2: they only use water to wash and to bathe themselves,

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Speaker 2: but if they want to drink water, they have to

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Speaker 2: have filters installed.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So so thankfully for Madda, they had these filters that

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Speaker 4: were installed by this nonprofit called Bueblonito put in a

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Speaker 4: little less than a year ago. But before that they

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Speaker 4: were buying tons of bottled water. And so Bolo has

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Speaker 4: installed one hundred and sixty of these filters, but they

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Speaker 4: estimate that there's one hundred trailers that could still need filters.

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Speaker 4: And these kinds of calculations, figuring out who needs what

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Speaker 4: and how much. That's what Gastello has been obsessed with

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Speaker 4: since he was a kid.

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Speaker 9: I grew up with the History Channel. That used to

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Speaker 9: be my favorite channel, and there was a time where

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Speaker 9: the History Channel was all about World War One or

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Speaker 9: World War Two, and that's all I would watch World

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Speaker 9: War One, World War Two.

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Speaker 3: What attracted you to World War One and World War Two?

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Speaker 6: It just I thought it was just I don't know

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Speaker 6: how to explain it.

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Speaker 9: I just I was so intrigued in the notion that

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Speaker 9: the men would go to war against each other for

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Speaker 9: the control of resources.

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Speaker 5: Classic thing kids worry about.

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Speaker 2: You know, I am a little obsessed with World War Two,

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Speaker 2: but the fact that he's like obsessed with World War

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Speaker 2: One and World War Two, it's like, ooh, take it

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Speaker 2: to another level.

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Speaker 4: So around the time at Casada turned twenty five, when

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Speaker 4: he was working for the City of Coachella doing his

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Speaker 4: engineer thing, there were some changes happening to the Coachella

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Speaker 4: Valley Water District. The Coachella Valley Water District is the

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Speaker 4: largest water agency in the whole Coachella Valley, and it

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Speaker 4: was being threatened with a class action suit for its

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Speaker 4: voting setup.

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Speaker 5: So up to that point, they were doing what's called

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Speaker 5: at large voting.

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Speaker 6: Do you know what that is?

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Speaker 4: No, So, at large voting is when the entire valley

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Speaker 4: was voting for these five seats. And what ended up

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Speaker 4: happening is that almost always people from the West side

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Speaker 4: were being elected because that's where there were higher voter turnouts,

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Speaker 4: and the issues of the East Side weren't being represented

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Speaker 4: very much by the board members. It also meant that

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Speaker 4: there had only been white members on the board. But

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Speaker 4: before even reaching the court, the board voted unanimously to

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Speaker 4: change the way they did voting from at large to

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Speaker 4: buy district. And that's when the current mayor of the

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Speaker 4: City of Coachella tapped Gasto and was like, Hey, I

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Speaker 4: think you'd be a great candidate. You know about infrastructure,

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Speaker 4: you've been working at the utilities department, and you are

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Speaker 4: really familiar.

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Speaker 5: With the issues of the east side.

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Speaker 4: He would be the first Mexican American to ever serve

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Speaker 4: as a board member at.

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Speaker 5: The water District.

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Speaker 2: All right, so he decides to run.

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Speaker 6: Does he win?

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Speaker 10: Yes, he won.

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Speaker 4: He got almost seventy percent of the vote, and it's huge, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: a lot.

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Speaker 5: It was like a grand slam.

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Speaker 4: I mean there he was a couple of years out

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Speaker 4: of college about to make decisions about the most precious

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Speaker 4: resource in the area.

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Speaker 6: It's all very strange in a way. What do you mean,

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Speaker 6: just I don't know. I can't explain it. It's just strange.

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Speaker 2: Lord coming up on Latino USA. With Gastulau in office,

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Speaker 2: can he make clean water more accessible for the east

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Speaker 2: side that's coming up? Stay with us, Yes, Hey, we're back,

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Speaker 2: and I'm back with Antonia Serejido, who went out reporting

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Speaker 2: the Coachella Valley in California. She was following the story

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Speaker 2: of a young civil engineer named Castulo Estrada who's working

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Speaker 2: to bring clean water to rural communities on the east

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Speaker 2: side of the valley. When we left off, Castulo had

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Speaker 2: just been elected to the board of the Coachella Valley

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Speaker 2: Water District. He was both the first Mexican American and

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Speaker 2: the youngest person to ever become a board member.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that was back in twenty fourteen, and so now

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Speaker 4: Castida has been on the board for three years and

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Speaker 4: he's one of five members on the board. He's the

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Speaker 4: only one who has grown up in the eastern predominantly

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Speaker 4: Latino side of the valley, and his position comes with

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Speaker 4: a lot of power. I mean to get an idea

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Speaker 4: of the magnitude of the decisions he's deciding. The budget

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Speaker 4: that they just approved a couple of months ago for

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Speaker 4: twenty seventeen was three hundred and sixty nine million dollars.

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Speaker 5: Oh my god, that's huge, so much money.

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Speaker 4: And that's because water is serious business in California, and

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Speaker 4: in particular in southern California. And Castello takes his position

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Speaker 4: very seriously. While I was there, he was in the

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Speaker 4: process of buying a car and he had been to

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Speaker 4: the car dealership like six times.

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Speaker 5: His style is to observe.

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Speaker 9: That's what I'm doing, and I try to stay back

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Speaker 9: for a little bit, and like I said, it says

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Speaker 9: the situation before I make a choice.

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Speaker 5: Castillo's always been an observer.

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Speaker 4: While I was driving around the mobile home parks him

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Speaker 4: on the east side, he kept bring up these vivid

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Speaker 4: memories he had of growing up there.

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Speaker 9: Who said, a lot of parties right there where that

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Speaker 9: trees at, Yeah, that's where I that's I remember running

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Speaker 9: around here, dancing, playing with the kids, looking for scorpions.

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Speaker 9: There's like a little scorpions back there. Remember the songs,

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Speaker 9: the music my parents dancing. You know, they were young too.

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Speaker 6: At that time.

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Speaker 5: Do you remember the song back in the day.

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Speaker 6: I think they danced a lot to like the Vanda

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Speaker 6: Macho's probably.

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Speaker 4: So. Caso grew up in Oasis and that small trailer home.

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Speaker 4: But when he was seven, his parents realized that they

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Speaker 4: actually wanted to stay in the US, and so they

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Speaker 4: bought their first home in the city of Coachella, which

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Speaker 4: is this working class Latino city. It's ninety six percent Latino.

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Speaker 4: And cast took me to meet his dad. So we

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Speaker 4: pull up and outside the house there's a family friend

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Speaker 4: listening to music really loud. Caso knows like the name

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Speaker 4: of everyone on the street. All these houses are squashed

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Speaker 4: together in this cul de sac, and I meet him Antonia.

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Speaker 8: So this is my dad.

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Speaker 6: He probably just got out of work. He's probably trying

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Speaker 6: to rest. As you know, it's really hot right now.

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Speaker 5: That day, I kid you not, was in the one

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Speaker 5: hundred and tens.

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Speaker 9: Equally, and so he's probably out there from the time

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Speaker 9: the sun gets up to about just recently, so he's

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Speaker 9: probably had a long day.

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Speaker 4: Casto's dad has been managing the irrigation on a vegetable

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Speaker 4: farm for a little over twenty years. He's in his sixties,

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Speaker 4: but he has no plans to retire, and he says

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Speaker 4: he misses Mexico, but he's really glad that he moved

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Speaker 4: to the States.

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Speaker 6: Esblo, content you.

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Speaker 8: Acoustician.

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Speaker 4: He's happy he moved to a place where, he says,

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Speaker 4: there's justice where there is. He says that if he

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Speaker 4: stayed in Mexico, he'd probably be dead by now because

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Speaker 4: he's the kind of person who demands justice from his government,

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Speaker 4: which is not the way things worked back in Mexico.

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Speaker 4: He says it's the government's role to establish order. And

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Speaker 4: so I asked him, do you feel proud seeing your

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Speaker 4: son working for the government now.

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Speaker 10: He says he's.

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Speaker 4: Proud of Castelo and that he wants him to keep

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Speaker 4: pursuing his career with dignity.

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Speaker 6: I got something from my dad, is like he's very thoughtful.

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Speaker 6: He thinks a lot.

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Speaker 4: So does think a lot, and like his dad, he

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Speaker 4: believes people should expect things from their government.

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Speaker 5: Something He doesn't think that people he grew up with

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Speaker 5: do enough.

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Speaker 9: Even in the areas that might be in a bad condition,

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Speaker 9: the people are not going to be You're not going

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Speaker 9: to see them being unhappy. They're going to be happy,

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Speaker 9: and they're going to be in a way even thankful

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Speaker 9: because they come from a place that's even worse, maybe

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Speaker 9: in Mexico. They come to a place that we might

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Speaker 9: consider here as bad, and it is bad, but they

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Speaker 9: just accept it, you know.

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Speaker 6: And you heard my dad.

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Speaker 9: He was grateful that he had work, even though it's

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Speaker 9: it's hard work, but he was grateful for it.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 6: He thinks it's a blessing, which it is. That's the

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Speaker 6: card that they.

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Speaker 9: Were doubt and they have to they have to stick

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Speaker 9: it through because that's what they need to do in

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Speaker 9: order to give their kids a better opportunity.

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Speaker 6: And so they accept it. They say, well, this is

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Speaker 6: this is my role.

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Speaker 2: He's saying that they're complacent.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, he thinks that his community should expect more and

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Speaker 4: ask for more.

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Speaker 5: What do you want for this community?

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Speaker 9: Well, I just want them to have a better life,

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Speaker 9: you know, I want them to just have the right,

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Speaker 9: you know, have the base sick things that people take

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Speaker 9: for granted, that's it. You know.

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Speaker 6: Make sure that their water is good.

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Speaker 9: Make sure that at least the water that they're using

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Speaker 9: is essentially the same water that everybody's u see not

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Speaker 9: to have to worry about whether it is or not.

401
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,680
Speaker 9: When you're connected to the system, you know that it's

402
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Speaker 9: being taken care of.

403
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Speaker 4: So by connected to a system, what casido means is

404
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,440
Speaker 4: getting water not through a well you dug yourself in

405
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Speaker 4: your backyard with your own two hands, but from an

406
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,359
Speaker 4: actual water agency that can guarantee that you're not going

407
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Speaker 4: to have arsenic or mud coming out of your shower head.

408
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,359
Speaker 4: Most people in the unincorporated east Side aren't connected to

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Speaker 4: a system, so I wanted to find out how did

410
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Speaker 4: we get here? How is it that one half of

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Speaker 4: the valley doesn't have to.

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Speaker 5: Worry about the quality of their water while the other

413
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Speaker 5: one does.

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Speaker 8: Nowhere is the importance of water better understood than a desert.

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Speaker 5: This is Bob Kieran.

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Speaker 4: He works for the Communications department at the Coachella Valley

417
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 4: Water District and it's sort of the unofficial historian at

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Speaker 4: the agency.

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Speaker 8: The Coachella Valley Water District actually began in nineteen eighteen

420
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Speaker 8: and the purpose for this agency was to see the

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Speaker 8: importation of water from the Colorado River.

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Speaker 5: Where was the water coming from before?

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Speaker 8: Before the canal was built? The desert was very fortunate

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Speaker 8: in having a large underground aquifer.

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Speaker 4: So the desert is uninhabitable for people. People can't live

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Speaker 4: in a desert, and so the Coachella Valley is on

427
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Speaker 4: a giant desert, but it's a very special desert because

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Speaker 4: it sits on an aquifer.

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Speaker 3: Do you know what an aquifer is?

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Speaker 4: No, an aquifer is a permeable rock that can absorb water.

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Speaker 4: And so even though it's a desert, they would, you know,

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00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,359
Speaker 4: when people first settled there, they would dig into the

433
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Speaker 4: ground and they would have wells that would spring water.

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Speaker 8: What was happening in nineteen eighteen is the people who

435
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:57,440
Speaker 8: were here realized that their artesian wells didn't flow as

436
00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,880
Speaker 8: quickly as they once had. They needed to find additional sources.

437
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,239
Speaker 8: So even though they had the aquifer, they didn't want

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00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,520
Speaker 8: to treat it like a mineral. They didn't want to say, oh,

439
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,440
Speaker 8: we're going to mine this vein of gold until it's

440
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,159
Speaker 8: done with and then move on.

441
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Speaker 4: So basically, the aquifer is not sustainable unless it's being

442
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,159
Speaker 4: replenished at the same rate as it's being used, and

443
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Speaker 4: it was being used beyond its capacity as more and

444
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Speaker 4: more people started to farm in the area, But in

445
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 4: order to keep farming production up, the farmers wanted to

446
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 4: participate in what became known as the Colorado River Compact.

447
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 2: Wait, what is the Colorado River Compact?

448
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 5: Oh, I'm glad you asked.

449
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,440
Speaker 4: The Colorado River Compact was signed in nineteen twenty two.

450
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:44,000
Speaker 4: It was a government deal that split the use of

451
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 4: the Colorado River between seven states, including Nevada, Arizona, and

452
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 4: of course, California. And while the deal was being made,

453
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,479
Speaker 4: the farmers of Coachella were nervous that they wouldn't get

454
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 4: enough access to the river's water. So to advocate from themselves,

455
00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 4: they founded the Coachella Valley Water District. That was back

456
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,639
Speaker 4: in the twenties. The next big milestone in the valley

457
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 4: happened in the sixties.

458
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:13,720
Speaker 8: The Coachella Valley for many years, agriculture was king. When

459
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 8: it came to the economy well, starting in the mid

460
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 8: to late.

461
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,000
Speaker 4: Sixties, all of a sudden, there were resorts and there

462
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 4: are golf courses, and way more people started moving into

463
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 4: the area.

464
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 8: There are quite a few golf courses here in the

465
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,159
Speaker 8: Coachella Valley. One of the more high profiled players of

466
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,840
Speaker 8: golf in those early years was former President Dwhite Eisenhower,

467
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 8: President Obama has come here to play golf. Golf plays

468
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 8: a very important part of the economy today.

469
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 2: So this is a whole other part of Coachella that

470
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,120
Speaker 2: has nothing to do with the with the music concert.

471
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,679
Speaker 2: This is all about golf.

472
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 4: Well, it's just like, you know, a lot of these

473
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 4: like sun belt towns in the sixties popped up and

474
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 4: they became kind of like resort towns. So actually, when

475
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 4: I was staying in Coachella for this story, I stayed

476
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 4: at the Fantasy Spring Resorts in Casino, and you know,

477
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 4: there are all these resorts, and then there's also Palm Springs,

478
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 4: which I don't know if you've ever been, but it's

479
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 4: pools on pools.

480
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,639
Speaker 8: On pools, mild climates. The area became more attractive to

481
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:15,920
Speaker 8: winter residents.

482
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 4: Initially, people came and they started moving in, and they

483
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 4: had their loans and they were living the American dream.

484
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,040
Speaker 4: But as more and more people came, the aquifers levels

485
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 4: got lower and lower, and so all of a sudden,

486
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 4: the need for a hyper hyper regulated agency that overlooks

487
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 4: the water became incredibly important.

488
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 2: Who is it who was moving in?

489
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,160
Speaker 4: So that's a really important question and a really good point. Yes,

490
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,439
Speaker 4: you have these people who are getting their summer homes,

491
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 4: these wealthy new residents, but all of the new economies

492
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 4: that are growing, they require a very particular labor force,

493
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,760
Speaker 4: you know, so the people who are cleaning the pools,

494
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 4: the people who are cleaning the resorts, or these agriculture workers,

495
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,680
Speaker 4: and that has meant low wage migrant workers. So you

496
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 4: have these wealthy resorts, these wealthy residents sitting next to

497
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 4: some of the poorest people in a America.

498
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:04,640
Speaker 8: In our valley, just in general, is a valley of contrasts.

499
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 2: Okay, so I have a better understanding of the history

500
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 2: of the valley and the water district, But what is

501
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 2: the water district's role with this group of people who

502
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 2: don't have access to clean water?

503
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 4: So when Gastada first started at the water districts, he

504
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,280
Speaker 4: realized he had a challenge. The people on the east

505
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 4: side were not signed up to the district or any

506
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 4: water agency in the area, and because of that, the

507
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,680
Speaker 4: water district was very limited in how they could change.

508
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 5: Things on the east side. But Gastada had an idea.

509
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 4: He helped found what is now known as the Disadvantaged

510
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 4: Communities Task Force and along with other people from the districts,

511
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 4: people from the county, locals and angios like Pueblo Nino

512
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,399
Speaker 4: who we heard about earlier that installed the filters. They

513
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 4: began to meet and plan for ways to apply to

514
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 4: these state grants that would help people on the east side.

515
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 5: What's the name of where we are.

516
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 6: This is called the.

517
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,879
Speaker 9: San josec Community Center. They generally used this, but.

518
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, this is where we actually have the planning meetings.

519
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 11: This is where everything originated.

520
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 5: This is where it all. We're all started, right.

521
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,360
Speaker 11: And Castello has been very involved in attending the initial

522
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:23,479
Speaker 11: meetings and he brought the idea to the water district.

523
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:24,920
Speaker 5: This is Riokranza.

524
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 4: He is a lot of fun and he is the

525
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 4: founder of Ploo and he was really excited to take

526
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 4: me to Stan Anthony's Mobile home park, which is the

527
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 4: place where they had the mud water coming out of

528
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 4: the faucets, because he wanted to show me their new Well.

529
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 3: Can I try this water?

530
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 6: Is there a That's what I was going to actually

531
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 6: ask you. You will be incredibly surprised about the taste

532
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 6: of this water.

533
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 7: This is kind of like tasting some wine.

534
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 8: You know that you take pride of.

535
00:26:52,520 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 3: It Okay, I don't know if I'm tasting the water

536
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,320
Speaker 3: in my hand still tastes.

537
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 6: Good, taste very late, very soft, very very soft, very

538
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:10,960
Speaker 6: Now again.

539
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 11: If it wouldn't before the arsenic, these these water in

540
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,879
Speaker 11: the eastern Coachella Valley is the best water antennal flavor

541
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 11: of the whole entire Cochella Valley.

542
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 5: If it wasn't for the arts.

543
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,200
Speaker 4: It's like the craziest way to preface any statement you're

544
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:28,719
Speaker 4: about to make.

545
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,440
Speaker 5: You know, but it is true that it did taste good.

546
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 4: And you can tell the difference when you have like

547
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,879
Speaker 4: water here in New York versus in California. No, no,

548
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,719
Speaker 4: what I remember when I moved to New York, from

549
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 4: New York City to San Diego.

550
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 2: Are you gonna tell me that San Diego water tastes good?

551
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 5: Cinea water tastes like the worst water you've ever said.

552
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, I remember it being really disgusting.

553
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 5: So someone does have a feeling about how water tastes.

554
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 2: That's what I can tell you when it's bad.

555
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 5: I know it's bad.

556
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 4: Yeah. Most of southern California doesn't have groundwater, you know,

557
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 4: they have what's called surface water, which means that it

558
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 4: comes from the river, it had to travel a long way,

559
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 4: and by the time it gets to your faucet, it

560
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 4: tastes god awful. And so Cochella is a place where,

561
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 4: presumably because of this agrafer, everyone should have access to safe, delicious,

562
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,880
Speaker 4: amazing water that, according to said Kio, is the best

563
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 4: water there is.

564
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 2: So you actually took a sip of this water. M hm,

565
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 2: you knew about the arsenic.

566
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 4: So this well that they set up has what's called

567
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 4: reverse osmosis, and it's an incredibly fancy way of making

568
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 4: sure that there's nothing in the water, you know, that's

569
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 4: really purified. That's one of multiple things that we don't

570
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 4: know has done in the area. So reverse osmosis is

571
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 4: a very expensive option. They put in pumps in individual

572
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 4: people's homes to make sure that the water was clean

573
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 4: that was coming out of their faucet. And so there

574
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 4: are a lot of people now who thinks to this

575
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 4: organization do have access clean water in their homes. So,

576
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 4: after this long day and one hundred degree heat, Gastado

577
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 4: decided to take me to where the people on the

578
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 4: east side go for fun.

579
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,520
Speaker 2: Okay, and so where do the people of the east

580
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 2: side of.

581
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 5: Coachella go for fun swap meat.

582
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 10: You guessed it.

583
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 6: The swap meat.

584
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 2: Such a West Coast thing, all right, so what's a

585
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 2: swap meet.

586
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 4: It's like a farmer's market, but like for everything, Yeah,

587
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 4: for everything, and I saw everything. Yeah.

588
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 9: I think now the big trend is those fidget spinners,

589
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 9: so we're probably gonna see a lot of folks trying

590
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 9: to sell the fidget spinners.

591
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 4: I mean we saw people selling or chatta, which was delicious,

592
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 4: some like light up Nike shoes.

593
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 6: Those were cool.

594
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 4: And it was really where I saw Casada most relaxed.

595
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 4: There's these long rows of tents. I mean, it was

596
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 4: a huge swap meet. There was hundreds of people. The

597
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 4: tents looked like they would never end.

598
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 5: And as we were like looking out over all these Coachella.

599
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,520
Speaker 4: Valley residents, I wanted to know, you know, what did

600
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,959
Speaker 4: Castello think would really actually help the East side? If

601
00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 4: you could like wave a magic wand and you're like,

602
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 4: this is.

603
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 3: What I need?

604
00:29:57,760 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 4: What is it that you need?

605
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 6: Get to be a more of a priority. I think

606
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 6: the state's on board. I think the state.

607
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 9: Has made funding available for a lot of this stuff

608
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 9: to happen, but unfortunately it's a lot of the other

609
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 9: jurisdictions that sometimes my make the process lower.

610
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 4: When Gastado says the state is on board, what he's

611
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 4: talking about is that the state has made funding available

612
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 4: for local water projects through water bonds. The well that

613
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 4: I drank from actually was paid for by this one

614
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 4: of these state grants. But on a local level, he

615
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,480
Speaker 4: just doesn't see the same enthusiasm or push to really

616
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 4: make a difference, especially in terms of accessibility to water

617
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 4: on the East Side.

618
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 9: I've seen where things get done when there are issues

619
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 9: and people get together and they resolve the issue.

620
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 6: We have a program at CVWD.

621
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:51,479
Speaker 9: For example, we have a program called a non portable program,

622
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 9: and this non portable program is a program that's been

623
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 9: developed over the years and we have goals and we've

624
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 9: mapped all the golf courses that we want to connect

625
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 9: to non quotable water.

626
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 4: The district is working on a project to make golf

627
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 4: courses more sustainable and use more recycled water. And what

628
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 4: Gusodo is saying is that it's been really easy to

629
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 4: get people on board and working quickly on it, and

630
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 4: we have.

631
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 9: These goals, we've mapped it out. We say we're going

632
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 9: to put so much money to do this, and we

633
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 9: have a goal to connect at least three of these

634
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 9: golf courses per year, and we want to achieve that goal,

635
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 9: and we're going to make it happen.

636
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 6: Well, I've always said.

637
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 9: I'd like to see the same thing happen in the

638
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:33,360
Speaker 9: East Side, where we identify where are all the mobile

639
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,959
Speaker 9: home parks, and let's start creating a strategy of who

640
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 9: we're going to connect, and let's put a number to it.

641
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,719
Speaker 9: Let's do three a year, Let's do two a year.

642
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 9: Let's let's set some goals. Let's let's let's approach it

643
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 9: in the same way that we're approaching this other issue,

644
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 9: which I'm not saying is any less important. Like I said,

645
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 9: it's not any less important.

646
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 6: I think it's important.

647
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 9: But I think that this other issue that I'm dealing

648
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 9: with is equally important, and I'd like to see the

649
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 9: same type of effort and the same type of approach

650
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 9: applied to it.

651
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 2: So, in other words, you got to give people the

652
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 2: same love and attention that you give to a golf

653
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 2: course kind.

654
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 9: Of and that's what we're trying to achieve with this

655
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 9: task force.

656
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 4: I wanted to know if what Casado was saying was

657
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 4: true whether other people at the Water District or people

658
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,360
Speaker 4: in the county didn't see what was going on the

659
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 4: east side as a priority, and so I asked them.

660
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 2: Coming up, we ask this question, who really is responsible

661
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 2: for the water problem in the Coachella Valley? Stay with us?

662
00:32:38,520 --> 00:33:20,240
Speaker 10: Yes, Asa, Hey.

663
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 2: We're back and on today's show, we've been talking about

664
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 2: the lack of access to clean water in the eastern

665
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 2: Coachella Valley. And when we left off, our producer Antonia Serejido,

666
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 2: was going to talk to other members of the Coachella

667
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,560
Speaker 2: Valley Water District. She wanted to know if they also

668
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 2: saw providing clean water to the east Side as a

669
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:41,880
Speaker 2: priority for the agency.

670
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: Yeah.

671
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 4: The first version I spoke to was actually Jim Barrett,

672
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 4: who's the general manager of the Water District. So Caslo's

673
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 4: on the board and he votes and he makes decisions,

674
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 4: but the real person who's running the day to day

675
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 4: is Jim Barrett. And Jim spent a lot of time

676
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 4: working for the City of San Diego also doing things

677
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 4: about utilities and water usage, and he really knows his stuff.

678
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 4: And I sat down with him and I asked him, Okay,

679
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 4: you've been working with water management for decades.

680
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 5: Now, how do you see the issue in the east Side?

681
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:11,840
Speaker 5: What would you suggest?

682
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 12: So what we have out there is potentially a group

683
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,319
Speaker 12: of new customers that don't have the resourcing to pay

684
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 12: their way in to the existing system, and by California

685
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 12: law can't We can't take revenue we receive from existing

686
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,800
Speaker 12: customers and spend it on new infrastructure to bring in

687
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 12: new customers. So there is a little catch twenty two

688
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 12: there and trying to provide service to new folks.

689
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 4: Gastada doesn't fully buy this argument that the district can't

690
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 4: do more to improve the access to water on the

691
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 4: east Side because of the law.

692
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:46,960
Speaker 6: Because everything has a solution.

693
00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 9: I think if there are certain things on the law

694
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 9: books that prevent you to do something that you know

695
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 9: needs to be corrected, then maybe those allows need to change.

696
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:57,359
Speaker 4: In general, the impression that I got from other people

697
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 4: who work with custudabout the district is that they think

698
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 4: what he's doing his noble, but that he may be

699
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 4: over eager.

700
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 5: What is it like working with Custoda Costello.

701
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 12: Has been great. He brings to the board a huge

702
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 12: amount of energy. He's very intelligent, and he's very committed.

703
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 12: He came in with this as one of his primary

704
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 12: areas focus areas, and I think his work in developing

705
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 12: the task force and pulling those people together has worked

706
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,320
Speaker 12: out very well, although it is frustrating, I think for

707
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,960
Speaker 12: him to recognize that we aren't moving faster, I think

708
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 12: we wouldn't be where we are today without his personal involvement.

709
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 4: Jim is not an actual board member like Gastoulo, and

710
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 4: so the next person of the district I turned to

711
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 4: was Peter Nelson. He was the president of the board

712
00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 4: for four years. He has a top position at one

713
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 4: of these large scale citrus farms, and I asked him

714
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,440
Speaker 4: if he saw a solution to the water problem on

715
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 4: the east side.

716
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 7: So it's hard to get the water systems to those

717
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 7: areas where they're not buying into the system first, So

718
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 7: what's the suggestion? So what's the suggestion? I think continuing

719
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 7: on with statewide grants, the answer is a big question.

720
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 8: Still out there.

721
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 4: Listening to both Peter and Jim talk, it made me think,

722
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 4: if it's not the water district that's responsible, who is.

723
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 4: One thing that both Peter and Jim brought up is

724
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:26,600
Speaker 4: that the issue could be looked at as not a

725
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 4: water problem necessarily, but a housing problem. The argument is

726
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,719
Speaker 4: that it is way easier to get water safely into

727
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,919
Speaker 4: homes that have been built with the system in mind,

728
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 4: not these scattered mobile home parks. Riverside County, which does

729
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,399
Speaker 4: have purview over this unincorporated land, is not a water

730
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 4: management agency, but it does oversee housing, and the county

731
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 4: has tried to address housing. It built these mobile home

732
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 4: parks called Mountain View that I visited and frankly were beautiful.

733
00:36:54,880 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 4: So these look like California bungalow houses, trailer.

734
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 9: Yeah, so look at these. You know, they have streets,

735
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,840
Speaker 9: they have a waterline. I mean it's like it's like

736
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 9: a regular street. You know, they got curb, right, they

737
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 9: got curb, they got driveways, they got lights. This is

738
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 9: a community that has all the amenities.

739
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 4: I talked to the guys at St. Anthony's Mobile home park,

740
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 4: the park where the mud used to come out of

741
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 4: the faucet, and they told me that the Mountain View

742
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,880
Speaker 4: homes were too expensive. The rent at mountain View is

743
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 4: currently at four hundred and thirty five a month, while

744
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 4: the residents at Saint Anthony's told me they only paid

745
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 4: three hundred. I wasn't able to get a recorded interview

746
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 4: with anyone from Riverside County, but they did send me

747
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 4: an email statement. They told me that their end goal

748
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,239
Speaker 4: is to connect all of the east Side mobile home

749
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 4: parks to the district system, but that it's very expensive,

750
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 4: they need more funding from the state and it's still

751
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 4: years away as far as housing. They see Mountain View

752
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 4: as a success and they want to invest in more

753
00:37:58,960 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 4: parks like that in the future.

754
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 2: So it seems that both the water District and the

755
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,240
Speaker 2: county are kind of pointing at this state.

756
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the state has been allocating money to pay

757
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 4: for local projects, so that's the government taking responsibility. But

758
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 4: I became curious about business owners. They're the ones hiring

759
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 4: the workers who don't have access to clean water.

760
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:21,240
Speaker 2: When you spoke to the people who own the farms

761
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:23,839
Speaker 2: or who own these resorts, I mean, did they talk

762
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 2: about any of their responsibility.

763
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 4: Well, so, because Peter Nelson, the board member, works on

764
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,959
Speaker 4: this big farm, I did ask him that question.

765
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 5: You work in farming.

766
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 4: There was a time in which farmers were encouraged to

767
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,040
Speaker 4: build what are now called labor camps, but housing for

768
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 4: the agriculture workers who worked on their farms do you

769
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 4: think that the people who hire these workers who live

770
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 4: in these conditions are responsible, that they should be part

771
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,320
Speaker 4: of the solution for better housing.

772
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,840
Speaker 7: So I'm not going to have a real official position

773
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,879
Speaker 7: on that, okay, but I will I will say tell

774
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 7: you some history of the valley. I never operated a

775
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 7: farm labor camp, but I talked to many people who

776
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 7: did operate farm labor camps, and they offered They offered housing,

777
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:18,399
Speaker 7: they offered food preparation facilities, showering activities, and so forth,

778
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 7: and it seemed to work well for them. And I've

779
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:25,400
Speaker 7: talked to some real old timers that that appreciated having

780
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 7: workers and then offering these services to their workers.

781
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,440
Speaker 4: But Peter says that local labor and housing commissions started

782
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 4: to regulate the labor camps and find them a lot

783
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 4: of money.

784
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 7: I remember a guy telling me, yeah, we had a

785
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 7: there was a fight on the weekend and in the

786
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,200
Speaker 7: labor camp, and one of the windows got broke and

787
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 7: the screen got ripped up, and the next week it

788
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:51,279
Speaker 7: hadn't been fixed just yet, and a regulator came in

789
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 7: and issued them some five thousand dollars fine. And they're

790
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 7: a five thousand dollars fine, you know, it just happened.

791
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,759
Speaker 7: So then there was a push by the state to

792
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 7: get what eventually were known as Polanco Parks approved, and

793
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 7: that's what popped up all around the valley.

794
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,840
Speaker 4: Polanco parks are these small mobile home parks twelve trailers

795
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,480
Speaker 4: or less that are owned by field workers because in

796
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 4: nineteen ninety two, there was a bill passed by Senator Polanco,

797
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 4: Richard Polanco, that incentivized field workers to own their own parks.

798
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:29,239
Speaker 7: Some were legitimate, well run facilities and others were somewhat substandard,

799
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 7: and so the Health Department of Riverside County went in

800
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,240
Speaker 7: and did a lot of regulations on those Polanco park folks.

801
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,920
Speaker 7: So that's what we're facing today as a water district

802
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 7: is trying to get quality water to those Polanco parks

803
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,800
Speaker 7: that have popped up all around the valley.

804
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 2: He didn't really quite answer the question.

805
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 4: No, he definitely did not really quite answer the question.

806
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,839
Speaker 4: What he's saying is they tried. That's what he's saying.

807
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:58,879
Speaker 4: They were in charge of creating housing situations for them,

808
00:40:59,239 --> 00:40:59,720
Speaker 4: and then.

809
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 2: It got too difficult to meet all the regulations, which

810
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,400
Speaker 2: made me think, so it was too hard for you

811
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 2: to make sure that they had clean running water, that

812
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 2: they had a safe place to be, that there was

813
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 2: basic amenities.

814
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 4: To his credit, what he is saying is is not

815
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 4: that he said that there were little things that they

816
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 4: were getting infractions for for which the cost was too big.

817
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 4: So he's you know, I don't I don't think he's

818
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,239
Speaker 4: saying we didn't want to provide water in a clean

819
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 4: place to stay or anything like that. I think that

820
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 4: he's saying that the state made it too difficult for

821
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:34,000
Speaker 4: them to.

822
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 3: Do that, doesn't is it too mobile home park?

823
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 4: And so now there are no more labor camps, but

824
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 4: there are these Polanco parks, and so I want to

825
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:49,320
Speaker 4: go check one out. So I met the Dartes, Marcella

826
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,160
Speaker 4: and Silight No. They owned their own Polanco park, and

827
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,720
Speaker 4: it was so beautiful. I mean, first off, the scenery

828
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 4: is gorgeous. It was like these big mountains and these

829
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,800
Speaker 4: purple skies, purple pink skies in this right in the background.

830
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 5: It looked like a postcard. And then the actual.

831
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,560
Speaker 4: Trailers were so beautifully maintained, and they had these like

832
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 4: cactus gardens.

833
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 5: I was in love. I was like, I'm gonna move

834
00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 5: in tomorrow. This is so nice.

835
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:23,640
Speaker 4: And Siano told me that he had studied to become

836
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 4: an accountant in Mexico, and let's he left school to

837
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 4: come to the US and started working in irrigation on

838
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,279
Speaker 4: the fields and he bought the land for the park

839
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,879
Speaker 4: in nineteen eighty eight, but it became the formal park

840
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:45,959
Speaker 4: that it is today in two thousand. L He says

841
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 4: that the situation with the water has changed a lot

842
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 4: over time. When he first moved in, nobody from the

843
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,239
Speaker 4: government would come by to check in and see if

844
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:55,400
Speaker 4: the water was safe. But then when they found out

845
00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 4: about the arsenic that's when people from the county started

846
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 4: to come by and check in and see what was

847
00:42:59,680 --> 00:42:59,880
Speaker 4: going on.

848
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 5: Yes, the only thing that.

849
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 4: He mentioned that he was frustrated with is that in

850
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 4: order to even have the well he has to pay

851
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 4: a fee, and then to have the meter that measures

852
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 4: the arsenic levels and all the levels of all the

853
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,319
Speaker 4: things in the water, he has to pay another fee.

854
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:28,320
Speaker 4: Is despite the fees, if there are elevated amounts of

855
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:30,320
Speaker 4: arsenic in the water or the well breaks down, the

856
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,320
Speaker 4: cost of fixing the problem still falls on's shoulders. But

857
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 4: despite any frustration he might have about being a property owner,

858
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,279
Speaker 4: is super proud of both his mobile home park and

859
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 4: of the life he's built here. He showed me one

860
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:44,840
Speaker 4: of his son's report cards.

861
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:51,959
Speaker 2: So always, Yeah, alas Uh.

862
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,320
Speaker 4: Works these long hours, but he really makes it a

863
00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:57,360
Speaker 4: point to let his kids know that he's always thinking

864
00:43:57,440 --> 00:43:57,719
Speaker 4: of them.

865
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 8: Boa, sav.

866
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 7: And Sava.

867
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 4: What Silvana will do is that in the morning, before

868
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 4: his kids get up, he'll go to the room and

869
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,880
Speaker 4: he'll tie a knot in their sheet and so that

870
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:22,279
Speaker 4: when the kids wake up, they know that he was

871
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 4: there looking over them.

872
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:24,000
Speaker 2: Oh my god.

873
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's adorable. Yeah is y No, no matter whigole chaos.

874
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,040
Speaker 9: It look with him for paras.

875
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,759
Speaker 4: He says that after he dies, he'll be glad if

876
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:46,839
Speaker 4: his kids can take over the park and that they

877
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 4: can take care of it.

878
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,640
Speaker 5: And then one day their kids will take care of it.

879
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,840
Speaker 2: You know what, Dona, It's kind of like Silvano. He

880
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,240
Speaker 2: kind of reminded me of Castulo's dad, Heronimo totally.

881
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,720
Speaker 4: I think both Silvano and Castillo's story demonstrates thing important,

882
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 4: which is that this group of people on the East

883
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 4: Side is not just a group of seasonal migrant workers anymore.

884
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,840
Speaker 4: There are people who have put down roots and consider

885
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,680
Speaker 4: Coachella the same what Gasolo does a home.

886
00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 9: I always felt like if I felt that I could

887
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 9: be helpful, that it was almost like my responsibility to

888
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 9: do it.

889
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 4: You know.

890
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 9: I think that's why I always wanted to come back.

891
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 9: I just I thought that certain communities need folks that

892
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 9: that are willing to come back and kind of take

893
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:31,760
Speaker 9: that role. Also, you know, I I as I'm learning,

894
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 9: I'm learning a lot of history, and that a lot

895
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:36,879
Speaker 9: of history of this valley. Who's who's done what, who's

896
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,279
Speaker 9: been involved. And maybe I'm just you know, maybe the

897
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 9: torch just got passed, and you know, I'm still learning.

898
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,360
Speaker 9: I'm still trying to put things into perspective.

899
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:51,920
Speaker 4: Before I left Coachella, Gastuda wanted to give me some perspective,

900
00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 4: so he took me to one last spot. We're at the.

901
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 9: I think it's called the Desert Marriotte Springs or Marriott's

902
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:01,200
Speaker 9: Desert Springs.

903
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,760
Speaker 6: Anyway, it's the Spring Resort.

904
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:10,959
Speaker 4: There's a pool inside the building that has like full

905
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:14,800
Speaker 4: size boats that people can sit in inside the building.

906
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:16,399
Speaker 6: That's right.

907
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:19,680
Speaker 9: The first time I came here was for a meeting,

908
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 9: and I had a meeting here at this lounge. Heir

909
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 9: I grew up in this valley, and the first time

910
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:29,359
Speaker 9: I came here was maybe about two years ago.

911
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 5: And what do you think when you came I thought

912
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:33,719
Speaker 5: it was beautiful.

913
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:36,719
Speaker 9: But I think in order to accomplish this, there was

914
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 9: a lot of effort, a lot of will, a lot

915
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,000
Speaker 9: of minds came together and said how can we achieve this?

916
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:43,359
Speaker 6: And it was done.

917
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:48,920
Speaker 9: Whenever I hear that certain things can't be done, it's

918
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:52,439
Speaker 9: hard for me to believe because I see what people

919
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:55,440
Speaker 9: can achieve when they try. And a lot of what

920
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 9: you see in the West Side is that is the

921
00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:02,560
Speaker 9: collaboration of a lot of a lot of effort, a

922
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 9: lot of people coming together, a lot of agencies and

923
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 9: making the thing happen.

924
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:13,320
Speaker 4: The thing I really took away from the reporting I

925
00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:16,240
Speaker 4: did on this story is that the amount of planning

926
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:18,840
Speaker 4: that it took to make what is the West today

927
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:23,319
Speaker 4: in the United States is astounding. It's not by coincidence

928
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:26,000
Speaker 4: that we have these giant metropolises in the middle of

929
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 4: the desert, and it was the work of engineers and politicians,

930
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:31,200
Speaker 4: people like Gastula.

931
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 2: So what's his role in the future.

932
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 4: Pastulo is in an incredibly important position because historically the

933
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 4: big decisions made about the control of resources in the

934
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,920
Speaker 4: area have not always included everyone at the table who

935
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:47,879
Speaker 4: has been affected, and there are more challenges to come.

936
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:51,080
Speaker 4: We learned about how the aquifer levels were going down. Well,

937
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:53,239
Speaker 4: there are signs of the Colorado River, which has been

938
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:56,640
Speaker 4: replenishing the aquifer for nearly a century, is dwindling.

939
00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:58,720
Speaker 5: And that's why we Gastulo.

940
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,200
Speaker 4: It is important to have agents like the Coachella Valley

941
00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 4: Water District and why he takes his job so seriously.

942
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,799
Speaker 4: He is constantly thinking of solutions and waste of plan

943
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 4: for the future.

944
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:11,879
Speaker 2: So what do you think will Gastrulo actually stick around

945
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:14,480
Speaker 2: the Coachella Valley? I mean, is he there to stay?

946
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 4: I think that Coachella Valley is one hundred percent where

947
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 4: Gastudotada's heart is and where it always will be.

948
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 2: All right, Antonia, Well, thank you so much for this

949
00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 2: great reporting.

950
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:30,080
Speaker 5: Thank you, Maria.

951
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 2: We first aired this story about a year ago, and

952
00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,920
Speaker 2: since then, in part thanks to Castulo, a new sewage

953
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 2: system was installed at the Saint Anthony Mobile home Park

954
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:56,040
Speaker 2: where septic tanks used to fail, and there are early

955
00:48:56,200 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 2: plans being made to build a waterline that will connect

956
00:48:59,239 --> 00:49:02,160
Speaker 2: mobile home park works on the east side of the Valley.

957
00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:26,440
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Antonia Serejido and edited by

958
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,360
Speaker 2: Nadia Raymond. It was mixed by Ginmi Montalbo. The Latino

959
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 2: USA team includes Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Marta Martinez, Daisy Contreres,

960
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:42,600
Speaker 2: Mike Sargent, Julietta Martinelli, Victoria Strada, Rinaldo Leanos Junior, Alejandra Salassar,

961
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:47,600
Speaker 2: Patricia Sulvarand and Julia Rocha without from Raoul Ferees. Our

962
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:52,160
Speaker 2: editorial director is Fernande Santos. Our director of engineering is

963
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:56,840
Speaker 2: Stephanie Lebau. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our associate

964
00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:01,320
Speaker 2: engineers are Gabriel Lebiez and jj Carubin. Our marketing manager

965
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,560
Speaker 2: is Luis Luna. Our New York Women's Foundation Fellow is

966
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:09,480
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Lowenthal Torres. Listen to all of our Let You

967
00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 2: Know USA podcast episodes on Amazon Music. Our theme music

968
00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:17,080
Speaker 2: was composed by Zagha Rubinos. I'm your host and executive

969
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:20,800
Speaker 2: producer mariuhno Josa. Join us again on our next episode

970
00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:23,160
Speaker 2: and in the meantime, look for us on all of

971
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:27,560
Speaker 2: your social media and riquer that day. No Devayes, Joe.

972
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:34,240
Speaker 1: Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment.

973
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,879
Speaker 1: Building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.

974
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:41,920
Speaker 1: The Annie Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the

975
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:46,880
Speaker 1: nation's children by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity, and

976
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:51,920
Speaker 1: transforming communities and funding for Latino USA is Coverage of

977
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,680
Speaker 1: a culture of health is made possible in part by

978
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:57,040
Speaker 1: a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

979
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:03,800
Speaker 2: Cochalli Valley because of the Cochelli co Celli