Money to clean perchlorate from the South Valley underground
watertable moved one step closer to reality after the House of
Representatives passed a bill authorizing $25 million for such
purposes.
Money to clean perchlorate from the South Valley underground watertable moved one step closer to reality after the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing $25 million for such purposes.
The bill, HR 4459, was sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Stockton, who represents Morgan Hill; it was passed on Sept. 21. The next day it went to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources where, if passed there and in the Senate, it goes to the president’s desk. If the president signs it, the bill will become law.
Congressmust still appropriate the funds.
No timetable has been set for hearings in the Senate.
“Citizens of Santa Clara (County) have suffered long enough – today is their day,” Pombo said in a statement issued shortly after the bill received unanimous support from his colleagues.
The money, if appropriated, can be used for cleanup and remediation projects for projects begun after Jan. 1, 2000, but not for projects taking more than 10 years to complete.
Cleanup of the South Valley aquifer has been estimated by water district officials to cost between $2 million and $150 million.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the federal money will not come to the city, which is covering the costs of cleansing city water of perchlorate. Nor will it come to ratepayers who, by January, will be paying a 10 percent perchlorate surcharge on their water bills.
“This is for future remediation,” Tewes said. “We We don’t get reimbursed.”
The federal funds must be matched 65 percent from the federal government and 35 percent from state and local agencies – or private entities.
In the South Valley case, “private entities” could include Olin Corp. whose 40-year manufacture of safety flares in south Morgan Hill deposited the perchlorate in groundwater.
The Pombo bill was initially criticized for letting Olin off the hook by requiring the 35 percent match of taxpayer and ratepayer money. Including “private entities” could cast the net wider and allow Olin to pay its part.
And while Olin paid to replace Morgan Hill’s Tennant well, closed because of the contamination, the company has refused to help the city with expenses relating to contamination in several other city wells north of Tennant Avenue.
As a result, Morgan Hill residents are now paying a 5 percent surcharge on their water bills to ease the budget squeeze perchlorate has imposed on the city, and will be paying 10% in January.
Treatment systems for the dozens of private wells, mostly in south Morgan Hill and San Martin east of Monterey Road, have been under study.
