The Camp Fire leveled homes in Paradise and left a legacy of water poisoned with chemical carcinogens, officials now say.

This is heartbreaking — Paradise, CA, site of the worst wildfire in California history, is also victim to a horrendous aftermath of fighting that fire: a water supply so contaminated with benzene that water pipes will need to be replaced.

Officials said they believe the contamination happened after the November firestorm created a “toxic cocktail” of gases in burning homes that got sucked into the water pipes as residents and firefighters drew water heavily, causing a vacuum in the system that sucked in the toxic fumes, the Sacramento Bee reported. […] Those who have assessed the problem say the water district may be able to clean pipes to some homes later this year, but it will take two years and up to $300 million before all hillside residents can safely drink, cook or bathe in the water from their taps. About 1,500 of the town’s 27,000 residents are living in the few surviving houses. Water officials have warned them not to drink, cook, bathe in or brush their teeth with tap water and to only take quick showers with warm water. Those residents are living on bottled water delivered daily and water tank deliveries.

Experts say there’s significant health hazard from benzene contamination. Benzene is both a natural and human-made compound used as a building block for industrial products such as plastic, lubricants, rubber, detergent and pesticide. It also is found in crude oil, gasoline and cigarette smoke. According to federal warnings, short-term exposure is connected to various physical ailments, including skin and eye irritation and vomiting. Long-term exposure has been linked to anemia and leukemia.

There’s no word on how long bottled water will continue to be delivered, but even in California, there’s no guarantee that service will continue until the water is safe to drink.

The Sacramento Bee has a long-form article that goes more in-depth into how devastating this is to residents whose homes were damaged or lost:

One noted water systems engineer said solving the benzene-contamination problem is the most scientifically complex task he has ever seen. The contamination is both in the water, moving around, and in the pores of some pipes. […] The task of dealing with the most of contamination falls to a small century-old water company called the Paradise Irrigation District. Run by a board of town residents, it maintains a 172-mile system of water mains and service lines, fed by a reservoir on the hill above the town. […] Initially, Paradise Irrigation District officials decided the safest bet would be to build an entirely new system. That would be a $100 million to $200 million project that could take more than a year and require massive digging up of city streets from the top of the hill on through the lower reaches of town, on the same roads now jammed with debris hauling trucks, contractor crews and material haulers. But the Paradise water agency doesn’t have the money to make those repairs. With 90 percent of its customer and revenue base gone, the agency faces insolvency within six months, the agency said in a posting on its website.

It always comes down to money. Caution: FEMA alert!

The Federal Emergency Management Agency meanwhile is expected to pay for most of the emergency repairs, but it has rejected the idea of a new system, Phillips said. FEMA emailed a statement to The Bee saying it is working with the state and the Paradise Irrigation District “to explore options that will result in safe drinking water for Paradise residents. We can’t define what is eligible yet because PID is still determining what they are going to do.” Phillips said his agency’s plan is to focus first on replacing contaminated pipes that run to and between still-standing homes, not burned properties. That plan should speed the process of bringing clean tap water to the first homes later this year. The agency will shut off contaminated lines that go to burned home sites. If and when people rebuild on those sites, the agency will test for benzene and replace those lines as needed, he said.

Doing it piecemeal may be cost-effective in the short term, but read that last sentence again and ask yourself whether FEMA will show up when someone buys the land in 5 or 10 years. Not to mention, FEMA’s already threatened to cut off funds to Paradise earlier this year. Seriously:

Paradise could lose its funding for its FEMA-funded clean-up reimbursement after town leaders allowed residents to move back into areas where debris had not yet been removed. In November 2018, the Camp Fire destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and displaced 26,000 residents. Debris left from the disaster posed a public health and safety emergency, so FEMA provided reimbursement funds so residents could move back and start over. However, faced with a housing crisis, the town council allowed RVs to be placed temporarily in Paradise prior to the debris removal, which may have put federal funds in jeopardy.

Because punishing the afflicted is FEMA’s unpublished mission. Just ask Puerto Rico. And Flint.