Gilroy officials face a genuine Catch-22 situation with the
perchlorate plume making its way south through South County’s
aquifers from Morgan Hill toward Gilroy.
Gilroy officials face a genuine Catch-22 situation with the perchlorate plume making its way south through South County’s aquifers from Morgan Hill toward Gilroy.
The city has decided to spend $200,000 to improve electrical service and buy land around three wells in anticipation that perchlorate filtering equipment will need to be installed there.
Is it prudent to spend money today in anticipation of the arrival of an unpredictable perchlorate plume?
On one hand, we don’t know which Gilroy wells the plume might contaminate or when the pollution might arrive. Fiscally conservative minds might argue that the city should wait until it knows which wells will need the additional land and electrical capacity.
On the other hand, others would argue that it takes several months to get the perchlorate filtering equipment installed and the city needs to be ready to protect its water supply from an advancing threat now.
There’s no comfort in the fact that the city’s initial $200,000 expenditure is just part of the cost of preparing for the perchlorate filtering equipment. Should the equipment become necessary, the city will have to spend another $600,000 pouring concrete and laying pipes needed for the filters.
But the city won’t be done draining its water fund at that point.
Buying the filters means an expenditure of $1.5 million and a cost of $90,000 a month to maintain all four city wells.
“It isn’t an issue of money as much as it is an issue of cash flow,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said. “We may have to front all of this with money from our water fund.”
In theory, the city should get reimbursed for its perchlorate-related expenses from Olin Corp., which has acknowledged that its now-closed road flare factory in Morgan Hill is the source of the perchlorate plume snaking through South County’s water supply.
But if Olin drags its feet or worse, as Councilman Bob Dillon fears, goes bankrupt, Gilroy could be left holding the bag.
Reasonable minds can disagree about whether the city’s expensive but proactive approach is the best – and hindsight will be the best tool to make that call.
But real money coming out of city coffers – and there’s the prospect much more will be spent. Ultimately, that mean higher water rates, so Gilroyans should play close attention to the perchlorate story. It isn’t just a Morgan Hill and San Martin problem. Gilroy residents need to be educated about the perchlorate threat and lobby their leaders for solutions.
