To pump or not to pump. That is the question. Whether the City
of Morgan Hill wants to risk the slings and arrows of being sued by
Olin Corp. for making the perchlorate-in-the-groundwater situation
worse by reopening the Tennant well
– or not – is under discussion at Public Works and City
Hall.
To pump or not to pump. That is the question.
Whether the City of Morgan Hill wants to risk the slings and arrows of being sued by Olin Corp. for making the perchlorate-in-the-groundwater situation worse by reopening the Tennant well – or not – is under discussion at Public Works and City Hall.
Olin, which put the perchlorate in the aquifer in the first place, and is responsible for cleaning it up, reported to the state Regional Water Quality Control Board on April 30 that pumping could potentially interfere with containment. It could draw the chemical deeper into the aquifer system.
Morgan Hill experts have begged to differ and want to use the well during the summer period of high water demand.
The regional board told the city last week that it intends to remain neutral but would have no objection to Tennant reopening. However, the board wants the city to understand that it could be liable for making the plume expand and migrate further and would possibly not be able to stop pumping, once started, for the same reason.
Jim Ashcraft, public works director, said Thursday that he thought the threat of liability could put a halt to thoughts of pumping. Helene Leichter, city attorney said it might not.
“We always evaluate threats of liability,” Leichter said, “but that doesn’t keep us from carrying out our statutory and moral responsibilities to the people who drink our water.”
She did take issue with the regional board weighing in on liability.
“Liability should not be a concern of the regional board,” Leichter said. “Their responsibility is to make Olin clean up the water.”
Ashcraft said he recently received a strongly worded letter from the Santa Clara Valley Water District – to the state board – suggesting that operating the Tennant well would actually help the cleanup. Ashcraft said he was disappointed that the regional board, based in San Luis Obispo, ignored the reasoning in the water district’s letter.
“The May 11 letter didn’t address those things,” Ashcraft said.
Thursday, Ashcraft said he had just heard from David Athey, the regional board’s project manager for the Morgan Hill/San Martin Olin cleanup effort. Athey said he would be sending another letter to Olin asking for more definitive details about why Tennant pumping would cause trouble.
“The April 30 report only gave vague suggestions that there would be interference (with the plume) if the city operates Tennant,” Ashcraft said. “But since then the board has heard from the city, from Komex (consultants who presented a test report of the situation) and the water district, so the jury is still out.”
And Ashcraft waits.
“We would like to be online by June 1,” he said. “U.S. Filters say they could have a plant operational in a week.”
The city has used U.S. Filter’s perchlorate treatment plant on the Nordstrom well in 2003 at a cost of $250,000. This year Ashcraft estimates the cost will only be $160,000. While the water district had originally offered to loan the city the money, Ashcraft said the city declined because there were too many strings attached.
Olin’s Rick McClure, project manager for the Tennant Avenue cleanup, said Monday that he could add nothing further to Olin’s position stated in its April 30 letter to the Regional Board.
While the news from Tennant is still up in the air, news from monthly well tests is good.
During the April check, all wells were reported “clean” meaning they had levels of perchlorate of 4 parts per billion or less. The May check will occur during the week of May 17 and results reported to the council on May 26, Ashcraft said.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
