Disaster cleanup officials in Lake County are facing fierce backlash after declaring a “100 percent success” following a massive, nearly three-million-gallon raw sewage spill in Clearlake.
The Press Democrat reports more than 75 frustrated rural residents have filed a pair of lawsuits against the county, disputing the all-clear and alleging systemic failure to maintain the area’s aging infrastructure.
The lawsuits follow years of state warnings, unaddressed pipeline deficiencies, and dozens of previous safety violations. Displaced families say they are still burning through thousands of dollars on bottled water, unable to trust that their shallow well aquifer is safe from toxic contamination.
The county’s board of supervisors has extended the local health emergency, even as the incident command team officially shuts down and hands oversight back to the very utility blamed for the crisis.