PLEASANTON — There is a garden hose running from Rick Hempy’s house to his neighbor’s homes, supplying them with water to shower, bathe or wash dishes.
The web of hoses, which includes the one from Hempy’s home, was the unincorporated neighborhood’s latest water troubles. Last summer, a line supplying at least six homes broke, forcing the city of Pleasanton to feed water to the homes through a fire hydrant.
But the city cut off the fire hydrant line last week, leaving at least six the homes in the unincorporated Remen Tract neighborhood without water.
Hempy said he’s worked out a deal with his neighbors to help pay what he’s charged for water, but said the city is just “rubbing nickels trying to make things work.”
“If we were in the city of Pleasanton, it would have been fixed,” Hempy said this week. “We’re the bastard son of the city of Pleasanton. They don’t want anything to do with us.”
Remen Tract resident Rick Hempy stands in the front of his home on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Pleasanton, Calif. Hempy is providing water via a garden hose to a neighbor after a water line broke in the Remen Tract neighborhood of Pleasanton. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
City spokeswoman Heather Tiernan said that when the private water line in the neighborhood broke on Aug. 13, 2024, the city installed a connection to a fire hydrant in the area to temporarily supply water to the affected homes.
The Remen Tract water system, Tiernan said, is privately owned, and the city can’t use public funds to repair the line. She added that the city offered free engineering services for the residents to use for help repairing the line. But, she said, leaving the hydrant water connected above ground on the unpaved dirt road “could put the entire system at risk.”
“Fire hoses are not designed for continuous use as a permanent water line due to the lack of structural protection, durability, and sanitary safeguards required for long-term potable water service,” Tiernan said in a statement. “Because the city’s water system is fully interconnected, a break in the hose could have created a pathway for contaminated water to enter the broader distribution system, potentially affecting water quality beyond the immediate area.”
The problem in the Remen Tract comes as Pleasanton continues its search for new wells after recently discovering its former wells were contaminated with chemicals known as PFAS, which can cause cancer and other diseases. In 2019, the city began shutting down three of its wells and started drilling to find new ones with cleaner water. Progress reports on the new sites are expected later this year.
In the Remen Tract, where there are 46 homes, these latest water issues are concentrated around six residences in the area of Vine Street, Linden Way and Virginia Way, near Bernal and Vineyard avenues.
Tiernan added that four homeowners in the area have agreed to enlist the city for help repairing the broken water line.
Rob Schurhoff, a homeowner without water, called the situation “annoying.”
“When they cut us off, I was like, ‘well, what do I do now?’” Schurhoff said.
He said he’s been using a temporary makeshift hose connection to his neighbor’s to get water to his faucets, toilet and shower. Showering with hose water is not a huge concern, but he is worried about his dying lawn, he said.
But, “I wouldn’t drink it,” he added.
Schurhoff said he filed a claim against the city in an attempt for them to cover the costs of the drinking water he has been buying and to repair the broken water line. The claim was denied, paving the way for a lawsuit.
The city has argued that it is up to the private homeowners to fix their own water line. It is unclear when the broken line will be fixed.
Debbie Martin, a renter who also currently relies on her neighbor’s hose water, said she was initially worried about the disruption to her water service, but has since calmed down. She has lived in the same home in the Remen Tract for the past 37 years.
“I know that the Lord’s going to take care of us,” Martin said. “The Lord is good. I put my hope and faith in him.”
Hempy, the homeowner feeding water to his neighbors, said he’s done so for several days in a row, with a good-faith agreement that his neighbors will cover the increased costs to his bill.
Without his supply, his neighbors would be left with no running water at all, he said.
“We pay what everyone else pays in Pleasanton on their water bill,” Hempy said. “Alameda County doesn’t do anything for us.”
When he bought his property 12 years ago, he said the city and county made him pay tens of thousands of dollars to run his own private water line so the city would approve the house he lives in now.
On Tuesday, motorists continued to drive over the interconnected hoses from nearby homes along Vine Street. Driving over the hydrant lines and the risk of rupturing them and then containing the city’s water system was and has been a concern for city officials.
Resident Aline Elbaz, who recently lost all water service, called it “terrible” and “cruel.”