California Mobile Home Park Agrees to $50,000 Penalty and Water System Upgrades

The Oasis Mobile Home Park operators must address arsenic contamination and wastewater issues to meet EPA standards.

• By Robert Yaniz Jr.
• Jan 28, 2025

The operators of Oasis Mobile Home Park in Thermal, California, have agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty and make significant improvements to their drinking and wastewater systems as part of a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

According to a recent release, the park—located on the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians Tribal Reservation—houses roughly 1,000 residents, mostly comprised of agricultural workers. 

“EPA is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that everyone has safe water to drink,” EPA Pacific Southwest Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Acting Director Joel Jones said in a statement. “We will continue to fully utilize the authorities of the Safe Drinking Water Act to hold water operators accountable for meeting drinking water standards.” 

Under the decree, the park must implement several upgrades to its water system over the next two years, including installing alarms to monitor water treatment operations, adding 80,000 gallons of water storage, and ensuring qualified water system operators are onsite daily until alarm systems are in place. Other requirements involve purchasing critical replacement parts, developing standard operating procedures, and holding quarterly compliance meetings.

The park’s groundwater, its primary source of drinking water, contains arsenic levels exceeding the federal limit of 10 parts per billion. Long-term exposure to arsenic is linked to serious health risks, including cancer, heart disease and neurological damage. Since 2019, the EPA has issued several emergency orders addressing this issue, citing ongoing failures to properly operate and maintain arsenic treatment systems.

In addition to addressing drinking water contamination, the park must work with an EPA contractor to complete a wastewater system assessment by March 2026. Identified problems must be resolved after the drinking water upgrades are finalized. The consent decree is open for public comment through February 24, 2025, and awaits final court approval. 

More details—including how to submit comments—can be found on the Justice Department’s Proposed Consent Decree webpage.