Where: Tracy, California

Problem: Small rural water systems struggle to access funding.

Solution: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) completes Median Housing Income (MHI) survey to support loans and/or grant applications to multiple funding agencies.

Morehead Park Community Water System serves a mobile home park near Tracy, California. The community is struggling to find the money to comply with a San Joaquin County order to install meters by 2024. This is largely because the Median Household Income (MHI) for the surrounding area is $115,403, which disqualified the water system from any type of government assistance.

RCAC stepped in to conduct an MHI survey for park residents to find the true MHI for the park so that it could access the necessary funding. The survey results determined that the park’s MHI is only $35,892, which is considered “severely disadvantaged” and therefore eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) or State Water Resources Control Board grant funding to help with the project.

RCAC staff are now working with the system to obtain funding for the metering project and a backup generator to help the system become more resilient to severe weather or public safety power outages.