5.1 Water Resources
5.1.1 Access to Water for General Use
Figure 19. A well in Springville.
The community survey showcases a range of water sources. For irrigation, cleaning, and other non-potable uses, 61% of residents rely primarily on well water; 30% use water tanks and 12% use hydropanel technology. This technology was introduced in early 2023 as a sustainable way of extracting moisture from the air to produce water. Hydropanels have yet to be widely adopted because they are not affordable for most residents. The panels in a few lots were donated by the company that produces the technology. Some residents report Hydropanel technology as cumbersome, taking up too much space compared to the little water produced.
Figure 20. Sources of water for general use in Springville
Figure 21. Residents purchase water tanks to store water for cleaning, washing, and other daily purposes.
A significant number of lots lack access to well water for general use. Upon inquiry about a well, a Latinx family, newly settled on a vacant lot, reported, “Not yet. They say there is one old [well] on the property but we don’t know where it is. We are still looking….[T]he boy piled up all the earth for us. Well, now we have to put all the earth back again and see if there is one.2” Some residents store significant amounts of water for their animals and plants. Pedro, a Latino resident, notes that he uses water tanks as a matter of practicality: “I store water in these tanks, this is the most practical and efficient way to manage water in my lot.” Describing his routine, he says, “Well, I go get water and it stays inside the tanks, about one thousand liters or so. The water provides for myself, the animals, the trees, and the plants. That’s how I do it. I need to do that about two times per day. And if I can’t, well, the plants dry up.”
Hard circumstances, however, sometimes preclude the most practical solution. Vicky, a white female resident who moved in recently, says the shortage of jugs limits the amount of water she can store, “I fill jugs up and bring it back in here. And that’s what they’re stored inside the house until we use it. I haven’t got that many jugs. So we have to go back and forth a lot. If I’m going to wash dishes and bathe and all that, then we have to go back and forth a lot. And it was costing us a lot in gas. Cost can determine water use. Mr. Oliver, a long-term African American resident, expresses this worry: “Me, myself, I have a freshwater tank under my house. And, now and then, I pump it in. But I will not run well water through my house because it’s a little too expensive to replace that stuff in there. I have to go straight to the dealer to get it. So I rely on bottled water, gallon water—that’s what I rely on.”
5.1.2 Access to Drinking Water
Springville residents experience the unavailability of safe, drinkable water from conventional sources. A significant majority, 85% of survey respondents, rely on donated bottled water. Another 41% buy drinking water. As Latinx family member stated, “For our water bottles, we go to the Dollar Store,” noting that their weekly expenditure is about $21. Water tanks with stored rainwater or transported water plays a role in meeting the drinking water needs of 17% of the participants. Lastly, 7% of the residents consume drinking water from hydropanels. Rose, a white female who has lived in Springville for five years, described her hydropanel experience: “They’re great. That water comes out of there so cold and so pure. Yeah, we drink it. No, I don’t use it to bathe in.”
Figure 22. Sources of Drinking Water in Springville.
The community’s two churches host water and food drives that provide donated bottled water every week so community members have enough water to sustain themselves. People stand in lines stretching for at least a mile, waiting to get two 24-packs of bottled water. The weight of the water pack means most residents use their vehicles to transport the water home, one more cost of the lack of water infrastructure.
5.1.3 Water Heating Methods
Roughly 37% of the community relies on traditional home water heaters,. Stoves and hotplates are used by 24% and 22% of the community, respectively, and 15% use electric resistance heaters. These methods all highlight reliance on electricity which suggests a community need for updated water heating systems to save time and heat more efficiently. A small fraction, 4%, use wood to boil water, relying on a more traditional, perhaps less efficient, heat source.
Latinx residents within the community employ a variety of water heating methods. One family residing in an empty lot without electricity or running water uses their outdoor charcoal grill, explaining, “We heat it up on the stove, the wood stove. Currently that’s our setup.” Another resident, Gerardo, when asked about his water-heating process, initially responds, “Yes. That’s a secret, I can’t tell you how” and later discloses his use of electrical resistance to heat bath water. He goes on to describe how he showers without access to a shower head, which he refers to as “Mexican style.” Others use buckets of water that they heat in the wood stove. Some white residents use their grills similarly. Rose describes her approach. “I have big pots— metal pots, stew pots are what they call it. And we put it on the grill. You put one on the grill and then we put it on there and then get the grill going and that. And we warm up our water. We take it in the house— we’ve got two of them. We’ve got one real big; I can’t lift. And the other one, I can. So me and Randy sit there. We fill it up again. We put it in there. And we fill the bathtub up and we take a bath. It’s really neat.”
Figure 23. Water heating methods in Springville.
5.1.4 Water-Saving Practices
Survey data tells us that 63% of the community engage in water-saving, demonstrating a strong resident awareness of and proactive approach to water conservation and sustainable use. For example, 43% take short showers in a conscious effort to minimize daily water use. Nearly half of the community, 48%, take a resourceful approach to water conservation. Rather than discarding greywater, the use it for gardening or other non-potable purposes. Collecting rainwater is another method embraced by 26% of participants, showing a commitment to alternative water sources and reduced reliance on treated water supplies. Water sharing, which can indicate community cooperation in water conservation, is less common; only 11% of Springville residents engage in this practice.
Figure 24. Hydropanels in Springville produce nearly two gallons of drinkable water.
Figure 25. Percent of residents who engage in water saving practices in Springville.
Figure 26. Water saving practices in Springville.
The lack of adequate water infrastructure ultimately forces residents to restrict their water use and make critical decisions about what they will use their supply water for. Since water saving is a necessity, many residents report that they often have to prioritize washing dishes, bathing, and using the bathroom.. “This is the last—lack of water that—that’s a big thing,” says Vicky, a white female resident, “That’s with your sanitary and health issues. You’ve got to be able to clean stuff and wash dishes. And my dishes are sitting in there because I opted to take a bath instead of washing the dishes. We shouldn’t have to have those types of choices.” Vicky thinks about simply using water as needed for dishes, bathing, and bathroom as luxury. “I would love to be able to go in and run a bathwater or go in and use the bathroom and just flush the commode with a little handle. I’d love to be able to do that. I’d be able to run water in the kitchen to wash dishes. That would be nice. But I’m not afforded those luxuries. And they are luxuries. People ought to be thankful for what they’ve got.”
5.2 Waste Disposal
5.2.1 Wastewater
Many residents, 58%, use septic tanks, a reliance that underscores the community’s adaptation to being without centralized sewage treatment facilities. Research data also reveals a concerning sanitation issue: 28% of the community reports no drainage system on their lots. Some survey respondents report digging holes, essentially cesspits, in the rear of their lots to dispose of their grey water. The lack of drainage infrastructure poses significant environmental and health risks, as untreated or inadequately treated sewage can contaminate groundwater and surface water and potentially spread waterborne diseases.
Figure 27. Access to sewage/sanitation facilities in Springville.
Residents describe the absence of a wastewater disposal system as one of the most distressing aspects of everyday living. Without a wastewater infrastructure, many resort to searching for bathroom access outside the neighborhood. As a Latinx family responds to our survey question, “For bathrooms, we head to the gas station.” Yet others, like Hispanic resident Genaro, responding to an inquiry about a wastewater disposal system in his trailer, respond, “No, we handle it the Mexican way. Meaning, we dug a latrine, really deep, over ten meters.” Another Latino resident, Jaime, aged 69, shares his method for heating water for showers and how he takes advantage of summer heat, saying, “Right now, in the summertime, we’ve got to do a side – we call it a tarp. And I got in there, and one of them bottles. No, I just pour it in a pitcher. You leave it out in the sun, and it’s hot. Like right now, it’s out in the sun, and by tonight, it’s still going to be hot.”