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PLACER COUNTY-

Ophir Gardens in rural Placer County relied on well water – until that well ran dry last winter.

Ever since, the community has depended on water truck deliveries but that luck may turn around because of state funding.

“It’d be nice if it rained once and a while around here,” Ophir Gardens resident Clara Bainbridge said. “We don’t water hardly.”

Ophir Gardens is one of about a dozen communities facing the same problem. They could run out of water in fewer than 60 days if truck deliveries stop.

“You know, sometimes, it’s 10 days before we get water, sometimes it’s five days,” Ophir property manager Robert Trosper said of the well.

Trucks that typically bring water were called away to help fight the massive King Fire in El Dorado County.

“Then we can’t get the trucks here to bring us water,” Trosper said. “So we got someone from Penn Valley to bring us some water, but it costs more.”

But relief should be on the way. The Placer County Water Agency announced it will apply for emergency funding – to the tune of about $1 million – to run 2,000 feet of pipe from a nearby pumping facility.

Trosper was told the project would begin in the next month.

“Have it completed in 60 to 90 days, I hope,” he said. “So, we’ll see.”