MORGAN HILL
– Results from tests of private wells are beginning to come in,
giving well owners and water agencies a better picture of the
realities of the perchlorate situation in Morgan Hill, San Martin
and, since last week, Gilroy.
MORGAN HILL – Results from tests of private wells are beginning to come in, giving well owners and water agencies a better picture of the realities of the perchlorate situation in Morgan Hill, San Martin and, since last week, Gilroy.
Santa Clara Valley Water District Spokesman Mike DiMarco said, to date, 812 tests have been scheduled and 398 completed. No new “hits” have been discovered, he said, since last Thursday when it was discovered that a Gilroy well and two belonging to the West San Martin Water Works were found with levels above four parts per billion.
More results are due as early as this afternoon. It takes three weeks to get final test results.
DiMarco said Monday that, because most wells in the afflicted area – now up to 750 – have been tested or scheduled for tests, the special “perchlorate hotline” has been discontinued.
In its stead, another number, 1(888) HEY-NOAH (439-6624) is now staffed to handle requests for testing and to answer questions about perchlorate. Up-to-date information is still available on the district’s Web site, www.valleywater.org.
To further inform the public, SCVWD has organized a meeting for Wednesday evening, bringing together the several agencies managing water quality or researching the chemical’s effect on humans, plants and animals and the Olin Corp., which has accepted responsibility for the wells’ contamination.
In January, levels of the chemical potassium perchlorate above the currently acceptable limit of four parts per billion were found in private wells within a boundary of Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, Center and Masten avenues in San Martin and Monterey Road. Last week the water district announced that two public wells west of Monterey Road and one a mile south of Masten Avenue – in Gilroy – had also tested above the “action level”.
The chemical is believed to have leached into the underground aquifer from a site at Tennant and Railroad Avenues where Olin Corp. and Standard Fusee Co. manufactured highway safety flares between 1955 and 1997. Wells have only recently been tested for the chemical, which has been suspected of causing thyroid problems including, in some cases, tumors.
The positive results of the West San Martin Water Works wells turned out not to be as dire as originally thought.
Since the company blends water from its three wells, the composite perchlorate level of water provided to its 250 customers is below the “action level” (the larger of the wells shows no detection of the chemical) and no further action is being taken.
Rucker Elementary School in Gilroy is outside the contaminated boundary but was still the cause for concern among parents.
“Even though the school is outside the impacted area,” said Rucker Principal Steve Gilbert, “we were close enough that I wanted our water tested.”
Sequoia Analytical in Morgan Hill tested Rucker’s water and returned a finding of “none detected.”
Gilbert sent home a letter to parents last Tuesday to that effect, offering to share copies of the test results.
The water at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School is also perchlorate-free.
Others who are outside the contamination boundary are not yet eligible to receive testing, DiMarco said. However, Olin Corp. is working with the state’s water quality control board to set up a protocol for more testing.
“We’re not getting a huge demand from outside the area,” DiMarco said.
The perchlorate meeting, open to the public, is Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at San Martin/Gwinn School. The school is located in San Martin at 100 North St., east of the railroad tracks and Monterey Road, just north of San Martin Avenue and can be reached from Llagas or Depot avenues.
