The city of Fresno could lose a portion of it's federal water allocation if Pineale doesn't install meters and affected customers feel as they're caught in the middle.
Some resdients living in Pinedale had no idea until Thursday that their water could be shut off come December 31st.
"We didn't know anything about it, Pinedale never let us know anything," said resident, Toney Duque.
Just down the street, Mary Jaquez has a disabled husband and said she doesn't know what she'd do if she woke up without running water.
"I have to help dress him, wash him and take care of him...and we need the water," said Jaquez.
General manager of the Pinedale Water District, Jason Franklin wishes things could have been handled differently.
"In a way, I wish we would have notified them, but at the same time we weren't really sure what was going to happen," said Franklin.
The small area of Pinedale has been getting their water supply from the city of Fresno since Highway 41 was turned into a freeway in the 80's.
"It separated this small group of customers from the rest of the customers and it also severed their infrastructure that was in place," said Fresno Public Utilities Director, Patrick Wiemiller.
Since then, the city of Fresno has supplied the 28 customers with water, but now, a federal contract requires all cutstomers to be metered by the end of month.
"We gave over six months notice as we were required to under the terms of agreement," said Wiemiller.
Wiemiller said he's open to work things out, but it's ultimatley up to Pinedale.
"All they have to do is come and talk to to us and request that and we can work out a solution one way or the other," said Wiemiller.
For now, residents in the area can rest easy for at least another month. The judge has granted a temporary restraining order on the cut-off.
The city of Fresno Public Utilities and Pinedale Water District are both expected in court January 1st to hopeully resolve the issue.