With only seven days until Christmas, the 140 residents of the Syringa Mobile Home Park community received a notice from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality that warned their tap water was no longer safe for drinking.
George Wood Jr. | Argonaut
Shirley Greene, president of missions for the Moscow Nazarene Church, surveys a Syringa Mobile Home Park resident in order to compile a list of needs and wants for the community, which has been without clean water for three months.
The families of the park were informed of the hazardous levels of chlorine, lead and other contaminants present within their water, and not even boiling the water would make it safe for drinking.
The new year didn’t bring much improvement in Syringa living conditions. While some moved out of the community entirely, many others stayed, citing a lack of means to be able to move elsewhere. James Ware, a 52-year-old homeowner in Syringa, said he sees a bleak future for the park.
“I don’t see this place surviving,” Ware said.
Syringa Mobile Home Park Owner Magar E. Magar signed a proposal last Sunday that will soon lead the community to be able to enjoy the commodity of potable water, following swathes of broken sewer and water pipelines that led to long periods with no running water, multiple lawsuits and the determined effort of many philanthropic organizations aiding the Syringa community.
Shannon Musick, manager of the park since late December, said Magar signed a proposal March 9 that will alleviate many of the violations the DEQ cited him for in their civil complaint against Magar Feb. 8. The proposal also addressed many issues that were brought up in a Feb. 28 class-action lawsuit by Syringa residents against Magar.
What proposal?
The proposal places City of Lewiston Water Distribution Supervisor Brian Hall temporarily in charge as the water system operator for the community. Hall said that right now, a chlorinator installed without a proper sensor is causing the unsafe levels of chlorine and contaminants in the Syringa Park drinking water. He also said the parts to fix the system are en route.
“By next weekend, everything should be should be running perfectly,” Hall said.
Hall said he will remain in charge as the water system operator until Syringa Park Manager Musick becomes licensed to take over — a process that Musick said she has begun and plans to complete in June.
Musick said another part of the proposal is the creation of a community action plan for the DEQ.
“We’re in the process of creating a community action plan form for the DEQ this week,” Musick said. “Basically, give them an outline for the steps we are going to take to fix these things.”
That still leaves the lead in the water, according to the DEQ notice. However, Hall and Musick both claim an incorrectly gathered water sample is the culprit for the unacceptable lead levels.
“It was sampled from an empty trailer that was sitting there for 30 days, and you’re not supposed to collect a sample from water (that has) set for eight hours,” Musick said.
Michael Camin, engineering and remediation manager for DEQ at Lewiston, said while the sample could possibly be invalid, the only sample received from Magar was 10 times the normal amount of lead. Camin said there are procedures for sending an alternate sample, but the DEQ never received another sample after notifying Magar of the lead levels.
“The info we are given is what we use,” Camin said.
Musick also said Magar approved discounts in rent payments for January through March, 2014. She said a $75 discount will be factored into January’s rent, a $40 discount on February’s rent, and a $30 discount will accompany March rental payments.
Philanthropic methods
The sun was breaking through small spots in the clouds over Moscow March 7. Some of the golden spotlights illuminate the Syringa Mobile Home Park, where Shirley Greene, President of Missions for the Moscow Nazarene Church, walks door to door with her assistant Kasey Osborne. She knocks on a door, asks the resident some questions, and fills in different lines on one of the surveys she has latched to her blue clipboard. She said she averages about nine houses during a survey run.
“We’re trying to assess the needs of the community, and how we can best help them,” Greene said.
For Syringa philanthropic work, Greene said she is working with many different organizations around Moscow and Latah County, and the survey information will eventually be compiled for use by the coalition of Syringa aid groups.
One of these groups is the Latah County Human Rights Task Force, and UI Law student Patrick Johnson is a task force member who is spearheading a project that is raising money and resources to aid the residents of the Syringa Mobile Home Park.
“We felt this was a human rights issue, and it needed to be addressed,” Johnson said.
The project has set up a fund to assist the residents of Syringa at the Eastside Wells Fargo, and those wishing to donate can mail checks made out to “Latah County Human Rights Task Force” with “Syringa Relief Fund” written in the memo line Latah County Human Rights Task Force, Box 8613, Moscow, ID 83843.
Johnson said the money would be used to help pay for gas cards as well as maintenance and supplementary food needs of Syringa residents. Johnson also said he was looking into ways that the task force and its volunteers would be able to help move the trailers of Syringa residents.
“We are working with residents to make sure money is used in the most efficient way possible,” Johnson said.
Many locations around Moscow, such as the Church of the Nazarene, Heavenly Salon and St. Augustine’s Catholic Center are also accepting community donations of food and water for Syringa Mobile Home Park residents.
Katie Goodson, a Campus Minister with St. Augustine’s Catholic Center, said she heard about the community support for Syringa a few weeks ago, and since then has provided Johnson with his primary pool of volunteers. She said she has between 20 to 30 volunteers available for loading water into trucks, and eventually she is prepared to coordinate them to help any Syringa residents wanting assistance moving out of the park.
Goodson and Johnson have been working with Idaho Ice and Northwest River Supply to deliver a truckload of water once a week to the Syringa Mobile Home Park. The first truckload arrived at the park Sunday, and Johnson said he and his team relied on Syringa residents to distribute the water equally among themselves.
“We delivered our first load of water on Thursday, and the residents were beyond appreciative of our efforts,” Johnson said. “There is a tremendous amount of need, as our truckload did not meet the needs of everyone in the park.”
However, Musick has noticed that equal distribution of water among the residents has become an issue due to some residents collecting more water than others.
Musick said she was officially hired as park manager Dec. 23, and 10 days later, the water main at the park broke. After the water main broke, the sewer and water pipelines eventually froze in many of the houses, and Musick’s husband Mike Musick teamed up with volunteers from the Real Life on the Palouse organization Feb. 8, to thaw frozen pipelines and help replace broken ones.
These community groups on the Palouse have been active in aiding Syringa, and the Latah County Human Rights Task Force may not be alone in their resolve.
“The Task Force is preparing to provide support for however long it takes,” Johnson said. “We are going to continue to work until this problem is solved.”
Magar and the courts
Even as various philanthropic organizations and the Syringa management work to improve conditions at the park, the DEQ and three residents of the park have sued Magar for the water deficiencies that have plagued residents for the past three months.
Jessica Long is the UI College of Law General Litigation Clinic Supervising Attorney, and will represent three residents of the park who came to the UI Legal Aid Clinic after having their water shut off completely at the park. There will be an open hearing at the Latah County Courthouse March 25.
“There is going to be two issues before the judge on the date,” Long said. “One is whether we can certify our complaint as a class action on behalf of all the residents. The other, is to get a preliminary injunction to have Mr. Magar ordered to start providing a regular supply of drinkable water.”
The DEQ issued a formal complaint against Magar Feb. 8, citing 15 penalties and the department is seeking penalties of up to $10,000 for each one. Some of the penalties included failure to maintain required water pressure on multiple dates since 2012, failing to monitor and report water samples correctly and on a regular basis, modification of public water supply without submitting required plans and not having a valid wastewater operator license.
“The goal is to have Syringa Mobile Home Park return to compliance with state regulations,” Camin said.
George Wood can be reached at [email protected]