San Juan Bautista business returns to normal after nitrate order

An update to a story we first brought you nearly a year ago regarding high nitrate levels in the water in San Juan Bautista. Water officials have since lifted the nitrate order in the area and the city has been working to make sure this doesn’t happen again. ?

“The water is good, it’s been tested,” Alfonso J. Castaneda, owner of Doa Esther said.

His restaurant has also been tested. Last year, one of the city’s three wells were compromised, making the drinking water potentially unsafe.

“A forced sewer line that was leaking contaminated the well,” Roger Grimsley, city manager of San Juan Bautista explained, “Causing the nitrates to build up.”

That forced water officials to advise people and businesses to stay away from the tap and use bottled water.

“I’d fill up the van every week and in between I’d go to the water store in Hollister and I’d supplement the water for the week,” Castaneda said.

This water problem ended up costing the restaurant an extra $1,000 a month. But that doesn’t take into account the lost revenue.

“A lot of them (customers) would tell me, ‘Al, this water situation you got going, I’m not coming back till it’s good again,'” Castaneda said. “So that means we lost a lot of revenue, a lot of customers.”

The contamination problem has since been solved and the city is working to prevent the same thing from happening again. It’s working to build another well as a backup to supplement the city’s needs now and in the future. The city has recently conducted test drills at possible sites.