Where: Jamestown, California
Problem: The Jamestown Elementary School District had very limited access to drinking water on its campuses. Drinking stations were in disrepair and students didn’t use them.
Solution: RCAC helped the district secure funding under California’s Drinking Water for Schools (DWFS) grant to install new and retrofit existing fountains with water bottle filling stations.
In the mountains near Yosemite, Jamestown is known for its historic roots as one of California’s oldest mining towns. But its rural location in Tuolumne County combined with its modest population of just about 3,500 make for a town in need of infrastructure improvements. At the Jamestown Unified School District, the small number of drinking fountains hampered the students’ access to drinking water. Many of the fountains that did exist on campus were rusted and in disrepair, which made them unappealing to students.
RCAC’s Agua4All program has helped schools increase access to safe drinking water since 2014. Agua4All rural development specialists help schools secure funding to upgrade their water access. They also work with the district’s superintendent and facilities staff from start to finish until the work is complete.
RCAC contacted the Jamestown Elementary School District (JESD) to encourage it to apply for grant funds from California’s DWFS program. RCAC staff walked through the schools with its administrators to determine the scope of work needed to install new bottle filling stations and fountains, and retrofit existing ones, so that students could have better access to drinking water on the campuses. After the site visit, RCAC helped create a budget proposal to submit to the state for the DWFS application. DWFS awarded a $63,826 grant to the JESD to improve access at two schools: Jamestown Elementary and Chinese Camp Elementary.
After DWFS awarded the grant, Rural Development Specialist Mila Spitsyn worked with JESD for the better part of a year to secure contracts, source vendors, and help the schools track their costs and apply for reimbursements. The district installed 11 fountains/bottle filling stations at two schools.
