At the Parlier City Council meeting on Oct. 2, 2025, city public-works staffer Javier gave a detailed status update on infrastructure projects across the city, telling the council the city now has citywide carbon filtration on most wells, multiple active road and pedestrian-safety projects and several recently awarded grants that will fund groundwater recharge and Safe Routes-to-School improvements.

Javier said the city is finalizing inspections after installing carbon-filter tanks at multiple wells and that “most of the city now is running on filtered water.” He described six-filter installations at Well 8 and Well 9 and a 12-filter installation at Well 28 off Manning Avenue, and said the city is bringing three wells previously out of commission back online.

The update matters because it addresses both long-standing water-quality concerns and near-term safety and mobility projects. Council members and several residents asked for specifics about timelines, costs and follow-up inspections, and staff gave grant and schedule details that will affect work through 2026 and 2027.

Most important projects and funding explained

• Water filtration: Javier said the new carbon filtration tanks are in place and the city is finishing final inspections with the water board. “All of our water is being filtered through those tanks,” he said. Staff said the filtered system is analogous to a large-scale Brita filter and that the city has coordinated a meeting with the state water board to complete the process.

• Groundwater recharge and flood control: The city has opened bids for a groundwater banking project and is designing percolation basins to infiltrate canal water into aquifers. Javier said the city received a $5,200,000 grant for the Richard Flores Phase 2 groundwater recharge project, which also rebuilds Richard Flores Field and installs underground infiltration tanks beneath ballfields.

• Safe Routes and ‘Limitless Lanes’: Parlier won a competitive $6,000,000 award through COG/ATP funding for the Limitless Lane and Safe Routes-to-School improvements. Javier said the funding will pay for trail segments, elevated crosswalks and bulb-outs at school crossings, and showed drawings and temporary “quick-build” treatments used during design and grant applications.

• Zedekar and canal safety: The city was awarded approximately $1,020,000 through STBG funding to build sidewalks along Zedekar Avenue, reconstruct the road and add a safe trail; staff said design contracts with Caltrans are in place.

• Newmark/roundabout and Numark trail: Staff reported a $4,000,000 award to reconstruct Newmark Avenue (to connect trails and crosswalks to the school district) and said the Newmark (Numark) roundabout is expected to receive Caltrans approval by month’s end with construction targeted to start in November.

• Road maintenance and pavement condition: Javier said the city completed its 2025 road-rehab work and striping on roughly 15 streets and that Parlier ranked near the top in county pavement-condition indices compared with larger nearby cities.

Crash history and grant rationale

To justify some grant applications, staff presented 10-year crash data for a corridor targeted for safety work: about 160 crashes in that area over 10 years, 6 fatalities and 236 injuries; roughly 27 pedestrian and 3 bicyclist collisions were included in the sample. Javier said that data supported the competitive HSIP and other grant awards.

Community questions and next steps

Several residents asked technical questions about the groundwater tanks and the filtration system; staff replied that the underground tanks are open-bottom infiltration devices that both increase capacity for flood control and help percolate water into groundwater stores. Staff also committed to follow-up inspections and timelines: remaining final inspections for filtration, a meeting with the water board, and construction schedules for the roundabout and Limitless Lane segments. Several projects are in bidding or design phases and will return to council for contract awards when state approvals and bids are complete.

Ending

City staff said they will return to council with contract awards and schedule updates as grants are approved and final inspections conclude. Residents asked staff to continue posting timelines and construction notices on the city website and to maintain outreach for school-area safety improvements.