Residents want to know why bottled water program was
discontinued
By Tony Burchyns Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – A top official with the road flare manufacturer that polluted groundwater between Morgan Hill and Gilroy is expected to answer questions next week about the company’s decision to discontinue shipments of free bottled water to hundreds of homes .
Olin Corporation Vice President Curt Richards is expected to attend a community meeting on perchlorate cleanup next week in San Martin.
The focus of the meeting will be a report Olin released in March stating that the level of harmful perchlorate the company unleashed on the South County water table is dissipating. The Olin Corp. operated on Tennant Avenue from 1955 to 1987. The plant generated a 9.5-mile plume of perchlorate-tainted groundwater stretching southeast through San Martin toward Gilroy.
Sylvia Hamilton, chairwoman of the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group, a committee of water experts, real estate agents, farmers and residents, hopes Richards makes it to the meeting as promised to answer concerns about Olin’s recently announced stoppage of free bottled water to households whose drinking water had been considered unsafe.
“It’s important for Olin to see and hear the members of the community,” Hamilton said. “I would like people to come to share their feelings, but to show respect for all parties involved.”
A spokeswoman for Richards did not return phone calls before presstime.
The areas of the plume stretching a mile and a half south of the Tennant Avenue site appear to have the highest concentrations of perchlorate, which causes thyroid disfunction and other health problems.
But testing further south suggests the hazard is decreasing.
“It’s likely those areas would not require much plume control,” said Hector Hernandez, a member of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board which oversees cleanup efforts. “In general we agree with (Olin’s findings) – the concentrations seem to be dissipating.”
A recent round of tests by Olin engineers showed 31 of 800 wells exceeded six parts per billion (ppb). California’s public health goal caps the acceptable level of perchlorate in drinking water at 6 ppb.
