A six-year saga to clean polluted drinking water between Morgan
Hill and east Gilroy inched a step further Friday, with the release
of a draft clean-up order that would require Olin Corporation to
restore the region’s groundwater to pre-contamination levels.
San Martin – A six-year saga to clean polluted drinking water between Morgan Hill and east Gilroy inched a step further Friday, with the release of a draft clean-up order that would require Olin Corporation to restore the region’s groundwater to pre-contamination levels.
The 24-page order issued by regional water regulators formalizes clean-up strategies already under way at the company’s former Tennant Avenue road flare plant, which has been linked to a 10-mile plume of perchlorate stretching to Highway 152. The order also sets the stage for a stand-off between Olin officials and regulators at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, who remain at odds over the extent of clean-up.
The company has pushed for a clean-up target pegged to the state’s public health goal of 6 parts per billion for perchlorate, a salt that can cause thyroid dysfunction in high enough concentrations. The company’s target – which represents about six tablespoons of water in an Olympic-sized pool – is roughly five times higher than the so-called “background levels” the water board has set as the clean-up target. Complicating the situation are efforts by the company to shift some of the blame for perchlorate contamination onto fertilizers used by mushroom farmers and other possible sources of perchlorate.
The sides have agreed to disagree as the Santa Clara Valley Water District proceeds with a two-year study that could pinpoint sources of perchlorate contamination. If those tests prove inconclusive, Water Board Engineer Hector Hernandez said Friday that his agency would expect Olin to comply with the tougher standard in the draft clean-up order.
“We’ve been saying that all along, and they’ve been saying, ‘We should only be required to clean to the public health goal,’ ” Hernandez said. “They said it doesn’t seem feasible to go any lower than that.”
He said the agency would exercise some leniency, however, if the company brings perchlorate levels below the public health goal and demonstrates that little would be gained by substantial investments in additional water treatment.
Once the draft report is formally ratified at the end of the year, the company has the option of challenging the clean-up target by appealing to state water officials.
Company spokesman Rick McClure could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Copies of the draft report were not available for residents assembled Friday for a meeting of the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group. Speaking to residents and task force members gathered in a conference room at the Aviation Museum off Murphy Avenue, Hernandez informed them that the agency plans to allow at least 45 days for public comments on the draft report. A final vote by the regional water board will take place Dec. 7 in San Luis Obispo.
In the meantime, the company will continue both short- and long-term efforts to address perchlorate contamination. Hundreds of Morgan Hill and San Martin residents continue to rely on filtered well-water or receive bottled water from the company, though many residents have fallen from the list as perchlorate levels drop in some of the region’s wells.
At the same time, the company is moving forward with its long-term clean-up strategy for the entire region, which involves piping groundwater from wells along the 10-mile plume to a water treatment center at the site of its former plant. Water board officials have signed off on that plan, as outlined in Friday’s draft clean up order, and have given the company two years to install the next set of wells and begin extracting water.
Olin first reported perchlorate contamination in February 2001, when it was trying to sell the factory.
“We have basically been working up to this point with replacement water, but that’s an interim solution,” PCAG chair Sylvia Hamilton told residents Friday. “This phase, the critical phase, is the long-term clean-up.”
