Testimonial
Community of allensworth
The historic town of Allensworth was the first town in California entirely founded, governed, and financed by Black people. It was established in 1908 by a group of Black educators and businessmen, including Colonel Allen Allensworth. Lt. Col. Allensworth was born into slavery, escaped, served in the Navy during the Civil War and later served for 20 years as the chaplain for the 24th Infantry. He helped to found the colony of Allensworth to provide a home for the soldiers of the country’s four all-black regiments and to create a community where, free of the bonds of racism, black families could work hard, become self-sufficient and prosper. Even though this utopian community prospered for less than 20 years, it’s still celebrated today for its vision and the opportunity it presented for African-Americans to gain a foothold, buy land and establish themselves as leaders and professionals. The original townsite of Allensworth is now the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. The present-day community of Allensworth is located immediately south of the State Park.
Water has always been an issue in Allensworth. In fact, one of the reasons the original vision did not flourish over the long term was because the rivers that originally flowed into the Lakebed and filled the underground aquifer had all been dammed up, then the aquifer started to get pumped and the artesian wells dried up. This combined with the Pacific Land Development Company backed out of a contract deal to supply additional water caused the ultimate demise of the community. The Allensworth Community Services District (ACSD), which was formed in 1967 with broad powers beyond the immediate needs to provide water, services 164 residences, the Allensworth Elementary School (with an average daily attendance of 80) the Allensworth Community Center and the Allensworth State Historic Park. The chronic problem with Allensworth water quality has been the arsenic levels of water produced from the community’s two wells – Well 1 and 2 are 3 miles east of Allemsworth. Both wells produce water that exceeded the arsenic maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion (ppb). Well 2 was close to the MCL, producing water with arsenic concentrations ranging from 7 ppb to 14 ppb.
ACSD received funding through the Proposition 1 Integrated Regional Water Management Program for the Allensworth Well 2 Modification Study. This project made modifications to Well 2 by sealing off strata of groundwater with higher arsenic concentrations. The project was successful, lowering arsenic concentrations in Well 2 to below the MCL without diminishing well production. ACSD is currently working on drilling a third well to further reduce its arsenic levels. The new well project will also replace the aging, undersized storage tank.
Though Allensworth is working on building resiliency, the community had well failure issues which resulted in 164 homes losing all access to water on February 27, 2022. Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) secured multiple heavy duty trucks allowing the transport of over 4,000 gallons of bottled water. The well pumps, booster pumps, electronic controls and switches all need repair or replacement. SHE’s Community Development department is working on getting approval to allocate SAFER Emergency grant funding to make the repairs. All efforts are closely coordinated with the Allensworth Community Services District.
Additionally, a team is working on a regional water utility proposal and Tri-County GSA is one of the partners. Tri-County is also working on some recharge projects that would benefit Allensworth. Allensworth’s water meters are dilapidated, inaccurate and buried, and received funding secured through Tulare County to install the smart meters. Another IRWM-funded project completed the planning and environmental review required to add photovoltaic solar panels to the well pumps, reducing cost and carbon emissions.
Leaders in the community, including Denise, APA President, and Kayode Kadara, Allensworth Elementary School Board President, and Sherry Hunter, ACSD President, and the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) Clean Water Advocates have been the catalyst for change. The SJV Clean Water Advocates effort builds capacity in 501(c)(3) organizations, informal/formal community associations, as well as individual community members to engage in and influence water policy and resource deployment. Through this effort, they have participated in community listening sessions with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) where residents voiced concerns/water challenges and advocated for the response they would like to see from DWR.
Furthermore, Sherry Hunter and Kayode Kadara serves on the Advisory Committee for the Multibenefit Land Repurposing (MLRP) Statewide Support Entity. This advisory committee includes environment, agriculture, community, tribal representation as well as Kayode Kadara who serves as part of the Allensworth Progressive Association. The advisory committee provides input on program implementation, provides constructive input to support successful Statewide Support Entity operations and program implementation.
The community of Allensworth is an example of resident-led efforts that have brought projects and safeguards to help protect their water system against overpumping and climate change impacts.
