Showers turn to trickles at Pasco mobile home park. Who should fix it?
When Amber Waid goes to turn on the water in her shower, no water sprays from the shower head.
A trickle comes out of the bath faucet.
She lives at the Sands Mobile Home Park at 1416 N. First Avenue in Pasco, north of downtown.
For more than a year, Waid and some of her neighbors have experienced fluctuating water pressure and unreliable flow of water.
Some residents can’t flush their toilets and take a shower at the same time. It can be impossible to wash dishes while the washing machine is on.
The 40-space park is home to mostly low-income residents who own or are buying their mobile homes but renting their lots. They pay $625-$770 to month, plus utilities.
About a dozen residents showed up to a Pasco City Council meeting recently to raise the issue of their water troubles with the city.
But the park’s owners, management and the city says the water system meets minimum standards.
Water meters
Washington state law requires that water pressure reaches at least 20 pound per square inch (psi).
Waid said the water pressure at her home usually measures 25 psi when she tests it. Good water pressure ranges from 40-60 psi.
She invited the Tri-City Herald to visit her home and see the water pressure issues firsthand.
Residents report their problems first started in November 2023, when water meters were installed for each mobile home in the park.
Two system meters were permitted and installed on Court Street and First Avenue, costing the owners about $54,000.
The park has been owned by Bruce and Deborah Schnabel for 18 years and is managed by Bothell-based First Commercial Properties Northwest.
Mike Kubacki is the director of property management at First Commercial.
He wrote in a statement to the Herald that the park has received notice from residents from five rental lots experiencing low water pressure. Those lots were inspected and their water issues were fixed.
The park made repairs at three of the lots and homeowners made repairs at the other two lots.
Bruce told the Herald that he’s also been responsive to resident complaints.
This May, Bruce checked the water pressure at two homes of residents who attended the city council meeting. He said that one home tested with good water pressure both outside and inside the home.
The other home had low hot water pressure in the kitchen and shower, so Bruce said that the resident will have their system checked out.
As the park’s owner, he is responsible for maintaining the water system and water meters to ensure supply to the homes.
But any problems in each home’s internal water system, including pipes and pressure, fall on individual homeowners to fix.
Replumbing a mobile home may involve replacing water supply lines, draining lines and installing new fixtures. Estimates range from $1,500-$4,000.
Complaints to the state
The state attorney general’s office has also investigated the water issues at the park.
Mike Faulk, deputy communications director, wrote in a statement to the Herald that the Washington Manufactured Housing Dispute Resolution Program received six complaints about the park last year.
Five complaints mentioned issues with water and four were filed by the same person.
At least one of the complaints remains open.
“The park has been cooperative and responsive, and indicated in October 2024 that their contractor was nearing completion of infrastructure upgrades they hoped would improve water pressure across the park,” Faulk said.
Language troubles
Nearly all of the park’s residents are Latino and speak Spanish only.
Many live off Social Security or disability benefits, or get financial support from family members.
A group of residents in about 10 homes have formed a close community at the park. Waid knocks on her neighbors’ doors to check in and gets invited to meals with their families.
As she navigates the problem in her own home, several other residents have turned to her for help.
Though she doesn’t speak Spanish, she speaks with bilingual family members who help translate.
There may be a language barrier preventing some residents from speaking out.
The management company told Waid that it has Spanish-speaking staff to communicate with residents, but Waid said the company has not responded in Spanish to residents who’ve made complaints via email.
Kubacki said that management can communicate easily with Spanish-speaking homeowners.
Jose Diaz Gonzalez has lived at the mobile home park for 25 years. He lives with his son, daughter-in-law Irene Soltero and their baby.
Gonzalez and Soltero said in Spanish they have not received any communication from the park in Spanish and don’t know who to contact at the management company for help in Spanish.
They once mailed a note with their complaints about water issues along with their payment to an accounting firm. The owners and management say they never received it.
Park management
To bring awareness to the water problems in her home, Waid posts frequently on Facebook.
Set to trending pop songs, her videos show the low water pressure issues in her home and her neighbors’ homes. The clips show Waid measuring her home’s water pressure with pressure gauges, toilets not flushing and slow trickles of water coming out of shower heads and sinks.
Waid regularly attends Pasco City Council meetings, and has contacted the city and state attorney general’s office for help. Pasco Councilman Leo Perales visited the park last month.
But she hasn’t seen any improvements.
Bruce suspects that two possible causes for low water pressure issues at her home are small water lines going into the home or scale buildup plugging the screens in the water meters.
He said that one plumber found a 1/2-inch water line carried both hot and cold water into Waid’s home.
Waid claims that the owners have been hostile to her and other residents.
The owners’ attorneys sent cease and desist letters to her in April 2024 and April 2025.
The letter sent this year states that she continues to “wrongly claim issues with the water pressure” and that her statements and Facebook posts are false.
“My clients have conducted four separate tests of the property due to these alleged issues, which have never failed the governmental requirements, and despite that my clients even installed a new dedicated line to serve the property that you (Waid) occupy, that they were not required to do,” wrote Kennewick attorney John Raschko in a letter on April 3.
Now she can only communicate with the owners through her sister, the homeowner, who then contacts the management company.
Residents look to move
Some residents have decided to move. The problems with water persist and they were hit with a 14% rent increase in January.
Becky Prantner has lived at the park for 55 years and is moving to Iowa in June to live with her niece. She said that she decided to move after the most recent rent increase in January. She added that the water pressure is a serious concern.
A few houses away, Patricia Mendoza lives with her husband and six children. She cares for her young children, cooks, cleans and does laundry. She’s selling her mobile home at the park and is moving to a new one in Kennewick in the next three to four months.
She said in Spanish that it’s a big change for her family. They’ll be leaving behind friends in the neighborhood and her children will be starting at new schools.
But she’s looking forward to the change. There is a well near the site of her new mobile home.
She knows that there, she and her family will have access to basic resources like water.
This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
