Thermal, California: The Truth and Reality of Living by Melany Martinez

OASIS, CA- For nearly three years, residents of the Oasis Mobile Park that is located in Thermal, California have lived with high levels of arsenic in their water system. Arsenic is something that has been linked to different types of cancers like your bladder, lungs, and skin.

Park management only provides residents with one gallon of clean water per person per day. These water issues are not new to the people in this community, it goes back to at least August 2019. Many of the mobile homes are old and falling apart, and aren’t safe to live in.

The EPA had issued a second emergency order in September 2020, in hopes of getting the owners of this park to help correct the arsenic contamination. The only reason that the water district got involved again is because the first order that was made disregarded, and the owners did not make any change for its residents.

Many people don’t have anywhere else to go, and don’t have the money sufficient to move and find a better place to live. There is a lack of affordable housing in Thermal, California and no correct change has been made for this ongoing issue.

Residents that live in these mobile parks are also people who are low- income, undocumented, and in positions that are very vulnerable. Many don’t have the courage to speak up to their landlords, as well as the people that run everything that has to do with their homes.

In the article “Feds meet with Oasis Mobile Park residents living with contaminated water in Thermal” it states that "These agencies come and ask us about the living conditions and about relocation, but nothing changes. They come to get information, but we're not told how much longer we're going to live like this," Benito said.

Mario Benito is someone who has been living at Oasis Mobile Home Park for 10 years, and has been dealing with these constant issues back and forth, as well as false hope.

Oasis has been cited various times by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency for its high levels of arsenic in their water supply. It isn’t something new that residents are just discovering, it’s a recurring problem among many.

Relocation is a main issue within the people who ma

nage the way that people live in the Oasis Mobile Home Park. The expense to relocate everyone would be a lot of money, and that is why they tend to disregard the issue and not make change happen faster.

Many call it a never-ending “merry-go-round”, because of what the county is asking them to do. Park owners are charging up to $600 to rent individual mobile homes, plus its utilities. Many of

the residents don’t have enough money to pay on time due to the

ir jobs, which are mainly agricultural workers.

The Oasis Mobile Park, at the end of the day, is the home to many people. It is where they decided to go stay and get located, because that is the best they could do. Change needs to happen so that these residents, live a clean and healthy lifestyle moving forward.