Morgan Hill
– Olin Corporation is responsible for polluting Morgan Hill’s
water and will have to devise a strategy to clean it up, according
to recent action by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board.
Morgan Hill – Olin Corporation is responsible for polluting Morgan Hill’s water and will have to devise a strategy to clean it up, according to recent action by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
On Dec. 21, the board amended its cleanup or abatement order for the road-flare company, making Olin responsible for perchlorate contamination northeast of its defunct Tennant Avenue factory. The board found that recent monitoring data from these areas “are substantial evidence … that Olin caused or permitted the discharge of waste that has migrated east, north, and northeast of the site.”
Olin has already been held responsible for an underground plume of perchlorate stretching southeast through San Martin from the company’s old road-flare plant on Tennant Avenue. Perchlorate contamination was first reported by the company in February 2001 when it was trying to sell the factory.
From 1956 to 1995 Olin and Standard Fuse operated the factory where perchlorate leaked into the ground, possibly from an evaporation pond for factory water, on-site incineration of flares and accidental spills. The evaporation pond was used as an alternative to disposing polluted water into storm drains.
City officials call the declaration a “major milestone” in Morgan Hill’s efforts to remove perchlorate from its drinking water. Ratepayers have spent $3 million outfitting wells with filters and hiring consultants and attorneys to make the case that perchlorate contamination in Morgan Hill stems from Olin. Ratepayers are paying a 15 percent perchlorate surcharge on their water bills to pay for the city’s efforts to monitor drinking water.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the board’s action increases the chances of holding Olin financially responsible for future removal of perchlorate in Morgan Hill.
Perchlorate is a chemical used in rocket fuel, explosives and road flares. It is known to disrupt thyroid function and prenatal growth and development. Scientists are debating on how much perchlorate it takes to cause health problems.
As a follow-up action to the board’s declaration, the board notified Olin Jan. 8 that additional monitoring, analysis and documentation need to be conducted in the coming months. The city continues to test all its municipal wells monthly for perchlorate. Officials say all water supplied by the city to residents meets state and federal safety standards.
California health officials may adopt a maximum contamination level for perchlorate in February. The Department of Health Services is reviewing public comment on a proposed standard of 6 parts per billion. Some studies show even minute traces of the rocket-fuel chemical lower essential thyroid hormones in women causing metabolic problems and neurological damage to fetuses.
In July, Massachusetts set the nation’s first drinking water standard for perchlorate of 2 parts per billion.
