GILROY
– The company that contaminated hundreds of wells with
perchlorate is asking the state to, at least partially, let it off
the hook.
GILROY – The company that contaminated hundreds of wells with perchlorate is asking the state to, at least partially, let it off the hook.
Olin Corporation has asked the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board if it can discontinue bottled water delivery to roughly 600 households whose perchlorate level falls below 6 parts per billion. In two separate one-paragraph letters, Olin Corp. asked the state board’s executive officer if it could stop delivering the bottled water and cease testing those wells for the rocket fuel ingredient.
The request by Olin comes on the heels of a decision by the state’s Department of Health Services to raise perchlorate’s safety level from 4 parts per billion to 6 ppb. Currently, Olin delivers water to all owners of contaminated wells, from Morgan Hill to north Gilroy, if those wells test at or higher than 4 ppb.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all. I was expecting them to do that,” said Sylvia Hamilton, a San Martin resident who has led the fight to rid perchlorate from area wells. “I knew it was being talked about, and I’d like to see them reconsider. It would be outstanding PR on Olin’s part to continue the water deliveries even now.”
Olin’s perchlorate project manager Rick McClure would not comment for this story.
McClure also declined to state how much his company is spending on water deliveries and how much Olin would save if it halted the deliveries to the residents whose wells did not have perchlorate levels of 6 ppb or more.
A source close to the former flare manufacturer said Olin spends $1 million a year delivering water to residents whose wells are contaminated at 4 ppb or higher. In a recent study, the company states that 236 wells in the nearly 10-mile perchlorate plume have tested above 6 ppb.
Eric Gobler, of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, said staff was reviewing Olin’s request but would make no formal decision until Executive Director Roger Briggs returns from vacation later this week.
“We hope to have it squared away this week,” Gobler said.
Even Olin’s harshest critics say the company, which used to be located on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, has acted responsibly since it was discovered that the perchlorate used to make roadside flares had contaminated South County’s groundwater supply. Some have quipped that folks were lucky the polluter was Olin Corp.
Nonetheless, the Connecticut-based company likely will struggle to get the state’s water quality board to go lenient.
Santa Clara Valley Water District staunchly opposes Olin’s request and will ask the state to make the company continue water delivery as is, said district spokesman Mike DiMarco.
DiMarco said water district staff is compiling reasons why it thinks Olin should continue delivering water to those with 4 ppb or higher.
“What they’re really saying is there’s a lot of variability in the testing. The margin for error is 20 percent, so when you test a well you can get different readings at different times,” DiMarco said. “Four parts per billion could actually be 6 parts per billion.”
Complicating matters is that some of the wells only have been tested once. In other words, a well tested months ago at, say, 5 ppb, may actually be contaminated at 6 or 7 ppb. If Olin is allowed to stop water deliveries to wells contaminated at less than 6 ppb, the owner of such a well would get no water even though he or she would be eligible.
As Olin lobbies for less bottled water deliveries, it also awaits the state’s reaction to its report on long-term water improvement plans.
Olin was required to submit a report this month detailing how it would go about restoring South County’s underground water supply to pre-contamination safety levels. The inch-thick document is in the hands of the state’s water quality control board. By June 15, the board will respond to Olin’s report.
One plan to bring safe drinking water to South County residents would have households hooking up to municipal water supplies. This idea is unpopular with some San Martin residents, who feel their rural way of life would be ever more threatened.
Hamilton, who heads a perchlorate advisory group and sits on San Martin’s planning board, rejects any plan to hook up to municipal supplies. She said hooking up to a city water system would encourage an unwelcome amount of development and urbanization.
“We’re a rural residential community, and we want to remain that way,” Hamilton said. “It’s best if we remain a buffer between Morgan Hill and Gilroy.”
