PLEASANTON — There’s a backyard hose working from Rick Hempy’s home to his neighbor’s properties, supplying them with water to bathe, bathe or wash dishes.
The online of hoses, which incorporates the one from Hempy’s dwelling, was the unincorporated neighborhood’s newest water troubles. Final summer time, a line supplying a minimum of six properties broke, forcing the town of Pleasanton to feed water to the properties by way of a hearth hydrant.
However the metropolis lower off the hearth hydrant line final week, leaving a minimum of six the properties within the unincorporated Remen Tract neighborhood with out water.
Hempy mentioned he’s labored out a take care of his neighbors to assist pay what he’s charged for water, however mentioned the town is simply “rubbing nickels trying to make things work.”
“If we were in the city of Pleasanton, it would have been fixed,” Hempy mentioned this week. “We’re the bastard son of the city of Pleasanton. They don’t want anything to do with us.”
Remen Tract resident Rick Hempy stands within the entrance of his dwelling on Tuesday, Could 6, 2025, in Pleasanton, Calif. Hempy is offering water by way of a backyard hose to a neighbor after a water line broke within the Remen Tract neighborhood of Pleasanton. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)
Metropolis spokeswoman Heather Tiernan mentioned that when the non-public water line within the neighborhood broke on Aug. 13, 2024, the town put in a connection to a hearth hydrant within the space to briefly provide water to the affected properties.
The Remen Tract water system, Tiernan mentioned, is privately owned, and the town can’t use public funds to restore the road. She added that the town provided free engineering providers for the residents to make use of for assist repairing the road. However, she mentioned, leaving the hydrant water linked above floor on the unpaved dust highway “could put the entire system at risk.”
“Fire hoses are not designed for continuous use as a permanent water line due to the lack of structural protection, durability, and sanitary safeguards required for long-term potable water service,” Tiernan mentioned in an announcement. “Because the city’s water system is fully interconnected, a break in the hose could have created a pathway for contaminated water to enter the broader distribution system, potentially affecting water quality beyond the immediate area.”
The issue within the Remen Tract comes as Pleasanton continues its seek for new wells after just lately discovering its former wells have been contaminated with chemical compounds referred to as PFAS, which might trigger most cancers and different illnesses. In 2019, the town started shutting down three of its wells and began drilling to search out new ones with cleaner water. Progress reviews on the brand new websites are anticipated later this yr.
Within the Remen Tract, the place there are 46 properties, these newest water points are concentrated round six residences within the space of Vine Road, Linden Means and Virginia Means, close to Bernal and Winery avenues.
Tiernan added that 4 owners within the space have agreed to enlist the town for assist repairing the damaged water line.
Rob Schurhoff, a home-owner with out water, referred to as the state of affairs “annoying.”
“When they cut us off, I was like, ‘well, what do I do now?’” Schurhoff mentioned.
He mentioned he’s been utilizing a brief makeshift hose connection to his neighbor’s to get water to his taps, bathroom and bathe. Showering with hose water isn’t an enormous concern, however he’s apprehensive about his dying garden, he mentioned.
However, “I wouldn’t drink it,” he added.
Schurhoff mentioned he filed a declare towards the town in an try for them to cowl the prices of the consuming water he has been shopping for and to restore the damaged water line. The declare was denied, paving the best way for a lawsuit.
Town has argued that it’s as much as the non-public owners to repair their very own water line. It’s unclear when the damaged line can be mounted.
Debbie Martin, a renter who additionally at present depends on her neighbor’s hose water, mentioned she was initially apprehensive in regards to the disruption to her water service, however has since calmed down. She has lived in the identical dwelling within the Remen Tract for the previous 37 years.
“I know that the Lord’s going to take care of us,” Martin mentioned. “The Lord is good. I put my hope and faith in him.”
Hempy, the home-owner feeding water to his neighbors, mentioned he’s performed so for a number of days in a row, with a good-faith settlement that his neighbors will cowl the elevated prices to his invoice.
With out his provide, his neighbors can be left with no working water in any respect, he mentioned.
“We pay what everyone else pays in Pleasanton on their water bill,” Hempy mentioned. “Alameda County doesn’t do anything for us.”
When he purchased his property 12 years in the past, he mentioned the town and county made him pay tens of 1000’s of {dollars} to run his personal non-public water line so the town would approve the home he lives in now.
On Tuesday, motorists continued to drive over the interconnected hoses from close by properties alongside Vine Road. Driving over the hydrant traces and the danger of rupturing them after which containing the town’s water system was and has been a priority for metropolis officers.
Resident Aline Elbaz, who just lately misplaced all water service, referred to as it “terrible” and “cruel.”
Initially Printed: Could 7, 2025 at 3:53 PM PDT
