A request by Olin Corp. to reduce the frequency of monitoring 12
contaminated wells in the San Martin area has been approved by the
Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
A request by Olin Corp. to reduce the frequency of monitoring 12 contaminated wells in the San Martin area has been approved by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The Tennessee-based company will now monitor the wells twice a year, instead of four times.
According to Thea Tryon, spokeswoman at the control board, the decision to reduce the monitoring frequency was approved because the collected data met standards set in place by correspondence letters with the Olin Corp. dating from 2005 and 2006.
“Based on our evaluation of collected data to date, it is within the criteria to go to semiannual monitoring,” Tryon said.
In 2001, Olin was found responsible for an underground plume of perchlorate stretching southeast from the company’s former road-flare plant on Tennant Avenue. Perchlorate – a chemical used in rocket fuel and explosives – was discovered to have leaked into the underground water of more than 800 wells. As part of Olin’s court-ordered clean-up efforts, the company is responsible for regularly testing the contaminated wells and delivering bottled water to households with wells that test above the state’s health standards.
Perchlorate has been linked to disrupting thyroid function and prenatal growth, although the specific chemical amount needed to cause health problems remains open to debate.
