With many of their wells going dry, residents of this rural area south of Menifee are facing the unpleasant prospect of continuing to truck in water from a standpipe or paying for an expensive hookup to the local water district. For Joe Martinez, there is no choice.
Residents now face the prospect of expensive hookups for district water.
I lost this whole garden. My vegetable garden went to hell. Last year, the ground-water level dropped so low that his well pump motor burned up working too hard, Martinez said. Some property owners noticed their wells beginning to produce less water about the time of the dam's construction. But a preliminary report by the California Department of Water Resources distributed to residents during a meeting last week dashed the hopes of some residents, who thought they might be able to avoid hookup costs by suing Metropolitan.