Dirty water fight brewing as Central Valley city refuses to help neighboring town

The tiny South Valley community of Tooleville faced a major setback this week in its yearslong struggle for clean drinking water – but advocates say the fight isn’t over.

The Exeter City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to scrap plans to connect Exeter’s water system with neighboring Tooleville, a rural, unincorporated community of about 80 households that has struggled for years with dirty water.

The plan could have solved Tooleville’s water issues, but Exeter officials feared the additional burden on the city’s water system, which they said is already in need of repair.

In August, the council approved the Water Master Plan, which examined the city’s water infrastructure and its capacity to serve another community.

Waterman-philpot said the plan showed the city would need to spend millions to upgrade its water lines, forcing officials to raise water rates for Exeter residents to fund the new services. The mayor said it wouldn’t be fair to Exeter residents and the City Council is “not interested” in adding to the city’s debt to help out Tooleville.

Michael Claiborne is an attorney with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability who represented the Tooleville water board during the negotiations with Exeter.

He said Exeter’s decision Tuesday night was “stunning” since the two groups seemed to be on a promising path.

Claiborne said state officials were willing to work with Exeter to address debt refinancing and paying for new infrastructure.