CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi is ready to start approving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help underserved communities.
Two-and-a-half million dollars is being allocated to residents living in the colonias.
TAMU-CC's Center for Water Supply Studies is a group of students led by a professor who applied for the EPA grant in order to help local colonias.
Residents of these colonias say they really need the help.
"We've been here for a long, long time and we've never had any kind of help," resident Alicia Castillo said.
Alicia and her husband, Juan, have lived in the Cindy Lane Park for 40 years and have been getting their water from a shallow well.
"We use it for washing, and every four to five years our washer goes bad -- because of the salt, the build up of the calcium -- and the water heater," she said. "So, it's an expense, but my husband and I and the community love it here."
One of Alicia's neighbors, Brian Martinez expressed frustration about the drainage problems that plague the neighborhood during every heavy rain.
"I've been here since 2011 and we've seen this problem time and time again, you know, every time it rains or standing water," Martinez said. "I have to park my vehicles out there in the, in the driveway up there, so I'll be stuck basically, you know."
The student group launched a program called "Quenching Thirst: Water Equity in Coastal Colonias" initiative.
Project coordinator Jessica Palitza said they have been studying Cindy Lane Park and other colonias since they received the grant this spring.
"We recognize a need for water equity within these unincorporated communities in South Texas," she said. "A lot of people there don't have running water or experience flooding for weeks on end if it rains, and so the EPA allowed us to help these people through this grant."
Research teams have discovered the well water is too salty to use for anything other than washing clothes and showering, so most residents are forced to travel for drinking water.
"Many colonias residents have to go into town about 20 minutes to fill up jugs for drinking water and cooking, which gets costly and also it's heavy for the elderly; it's hard to carry gallons of water every other day," Palitza said.
Project applications are due by Nov 18.
To find out how your community organization can apply for a grant, click here.