Oasis Mobile Home Park Safe Drinking Water Act Consent Decree, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Reservation in Thermal, California

On January 16, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement with the operators of the Oasis Mobile Home Park (Park) for violations of the Safe Drinking Water at the Park (SDWA). Under the consent decree, the operators of the Park (defendants) have agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty and upgrade the Park’s public water and wastewater systems.

• Overview of Oasis Mobile Home Park
• Summary of Violations
• Overview of the Consent Decree
• Comment Period
• Contact Information

Overview of Oasis Mobile Home Park

The Oasis Mobile Home Park is located in the Eastern Coachella Valley, within the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians Reservation in Thermal, California. The Park predominately serves agricultural workers and is the valley’s largest mobile home facility with an estimated population of 1000 people. The defendants took over operations of the Park in November 2021 after the previous owner’s death in May 2021. The Park has been the subject of multiple EPA emergency orders to address consistent exceedances of arsenic contaminant levels in the Park’s drinking water on account of naturally occurring arsenic in the groundwater source for the Park’s public water system. Arsenic is a known carcinogen, and drinking high levels over many years can increase the chance of lung, bladder, and skin cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and neurological damage.

Summary of Violations

The United States’ complaint alleges four claims for relief.

1. Defendants failed to provide EPA with certain inventory information about their septic systems, which are Class V wells, such as the wells’ nature, type and operating status.
2. Defendants failed to comply with the EPA’s 2021 Emergency Administrative Order, as amended, issued under the SDWA, specifically, failing to: retain a  certified back-up operator; submit an alternative water source plan and operations assessment; consistently provide notice of order violations, conduct weekly reporting, attend weekly meetings; follow the EPA-approved distribution system sampling plan; and install additional storage capacity by the order’s deadline.
3. Arsenic -a contaminant-is present and likely to enter the public water system at the Park, which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons that use the public water system.
4. Contaminants from the Park’s wastewater treatment system are likely to enter the public water system at the Park which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons at the park.

Overview of the Consent Decree

The consent decree requires the implementation of extensive upgrades and operational improvements to the public water system at the Park over the next two years. The key requirements include:

• Installation of alarms on the drinking water treatment system to monitor its operation;
• Addition of at least 80,000 gallons of water storage capacity;
• Installation of a booster pump and purchase of critical replacement parts;
• Ensuring that qualified public water system operators are at the Park seven days per week until the Park’s operators install the alarm system, at which point the operators must be on-site as necessary to meet all SDWA requirements;
• Development of comprehensive standard operating procedures with the assistance of an EPA-provided contractor to ensure the proper operation of the public water system;
• Mandatory quarterly meetings with EPA to review compliance progress with the consent decree; and
• Notification to EPA as soon as possible and no later than twenty-four hours if consent decree violations or other issues pose an immediate threat to public health or the environment.

The consent decree also requires the operators to work with an EPA contractor who was retained under the Closing America's Wastewater Gap initiative to develop a wastewater system assessment, expected to be completed by March 2026. The operators must fix problems identified during the wastewater system assessment after the public water system improvements are completed.

The consent decree also requires defendants to pay a $50,000 civil penalty.

Comment Period

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is subject to a minimum 30-day public comment period and final court approval. Information on submitting comment and access to the settlement agreement is available on DOJ website.  

Contact Information

For more information, contact:

Maria Alberty
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division
Region 9 (Southwest) – San Francisco, CA
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
(415) 972-3981
[email protected]

Jason Gambatese
Water Division
Region 9 (Southwest) – San Francisco, CA
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
(415) 972-3571
[email protected]

Rebekah Reynolds
Office of Regional Counsel
Region 9 (Southwest) – San Francisco, CA
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
(415) 972-3916
[email protected]

Natalia Cabrera
Water Enforcement Division
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
(202) 564-1801
[email protected]

Heidi Rausch
Water Enforcement Division
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
(202) 564-3096
[email protected]