Access to Affordable Drinking Water

Future Diesel Restrictions will take away access to affordable groundwater.

Water covers nearly three-quarters of Earth’s surface, yet only 2% to 3% is freshwater, and only a fraction of that is groundwater. With few lakes and a semi-arid climate, California depends heavily on groundwater to sustain life.

Today, California’s C57 Contractors are in a high-stakes, no-win balancing act. They are losing the ability to drill affordable domestic water wells. 

No matter which side of the fence you are on, there is no denying that the climate is changing and that carbon neutrality is important. Both air and water are of great importance to human life and dignity. But the reality is, water scarcity or the lack of access to affordable drinking water is increasing much faster than the scarcity of air.

Historically, low-income and fixed-income families have been disproportionately impacted, but it is about to affect everyone as domestic wells dry up and collapse.

Only C57 Contractors are allowed to drill for groundwater, and there are only a handful of these licensed Contractors in the entire State. Most are small, family-owned businesses.

To provide for this precious service, the C57 Contractor relies exclusively on dependable diesel motors and the high torque they produce for drilling water wells and repairing pumps. Absolutely no power substitutes exist for working in tough soil and rock at rural home sites. Diesel motors with continuous high power are the only option.

There are no charging stations in rural areas. Even with 100% of the electricity from the subject residence, it would take additional power from approximately 20 to 30 more homes to equal the torque of a modern drill rig. Obviously, this is impossible.

The FAA considers lithium batteries as "dangerous ." Conventional fire fighting equipment can not extinguish a lithium fire. Regardless, a drill rig can not carry enough batteries to drill for several days in rural areas.

California already signed into law AB1346 eliminating small gasoline engines needed for transfer-pumps (and generators) when drilling a water well.

The Governor’s office has now directed the State AIR Board “to implement strategies to achieve 100% zero emissions from off-road equipment in California by 2035. Diesel engines will soon be gone, and so will the ability to drill affordable domestic water wells.

Water well drilling of domestic wells and pump repair need to be permanently classified as Exempt Essential Emergency Trades and be allowed to use diesel power.

Without the C57 Contractors, there is no water.

Note: CADWRA is a responsible organization and a proponent of water conservation. The recent massive atmospheric rivers may have caused flooding, but they have had minimal impact on improving groundwater conditions. We are still very much in a groundwater drought. CADWRA supports any and all efforts to encourage homeowners to replace conventional lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping.