MORGAN HILL
– After being shut down since May as the result of perchlorate
contamination, Morgan Hill’s Nordstrom well is back in service
today.
MORGAN HILL – After being shut down since May as the result of perchlorate contamination, Morgan Hill’s Nordstrom well is back in service today.
The well will have new perchlorate filters installed at the cost of $129,600.
The city well, located on Murphy and Dunne avenues, is one of the best producing wells at 1.5 million gallons per day.
The city saw demand peak at 12.12 million gallons per day during the month of June. This resulted in the city asking that the entire community to conserve water. The city must keep 25 percent of the peak demand on reserve, which is 3 million gallons.
The 12 wells currently on line produce a combined 11.5 million gallons per day.
There are two wells still out because of perchlorate contamination: the Condit well produces 288,000 gallons per day and the Tennant Avenue well produces 648,000 gallons per day.
According to Tony Eulo, assistant to the city manager, the addition of the Nordstrom well will help alleviate a strain caused by high water demand as temperatures rise.
By comparison, the highest producing well produces 1.8 million gallons per day. The lower performing wells will pump around 525,000 gallons per day, according to Eulo.
The city wells still in operation have had no detectable levels of perchlorate. Nondetect is considered for all water having levels less than 4 ppb.
Plans are also in the works to bring the Tennant Avenue well back on line. With the largest concentration of perchlorate at this site, special precautions are being taken to guarantee that water from this well will be safe.
According to a city council report, the well is scheduled to go online Aug. 1.
Perchlorate leached into the underground aquifer from a former Olin Corp. site at Tennant and Railroad avenues where highway safety flares were manufactured for 40 years. The chemical has contaminated hundreds of private and public wells in Morgan Hill, San Martin and a few in north Gilroy.
Besides exposing people to perchlorate, a major concern from Olin is that the activation of the Tennant well will force perchlorate to areas currently not affected.
“We are concerned that we will pull perchlorate from shallow waters into the deeper water,” said Rick McClure from Olin Corp. In the past, Olin has come out against placing filters on the city’s wells for that reason.
