Residents in San Martin who get their water from wells that test
below the state
’s public health goal for perchlorate will no longer receive
bottled water.
Since 2002, the Olin Corp. has been providing water to residents whose wells test as low as 2 to 4 parts per billion, at the direction of the Central Coast Regional Water Control Board. Earlier this year, the state water board said that the regional board “abused its discretion” by forcing Olin to replace water testing below the public health goal of 6 parts per billion.
According to the order finalized Thursday, Olin can discontinue bottled water delivery for wells that test below the health goal for four consecutive quarters.
Sylvia Hamilton, chairwoman of the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group in San Martin, said she’s disappointed by the decision, but ready to move ahead with cleanup.
“I’m just anxious to move forward,” she said. “I think the parties worked very hard to try to find something that everybody could be in agreement on, and when you have agreements like this, there are always going to be things you wish were in there.”
Perchlorate was discovered in 2000 at the site of a former road flare factory operated by Olin on Railroad Avenue in Morgan Hill. The plume has spread about 9.5 miles to the south and east of the site, contaminating more than 1,000 wells in the area.
Olin says it has spent more than $780,000 since March 12, 2004 providing water to the users of 566 wells that test below 6 parts per billion. Providing water only for those wells that test above 6 parts per billion and monitoring wells as low as 2 parts per billion, Olin has said, will “fully protect the public.”
Olin continues to install ion-exchange treatment systems on the area’s worst-affected wells. Although the ion-exchange system is a proven technology, Olin has not been able to have the new units certified by the California Department of Health Services because they are too small. Without certification, Olin could potentially be liable if one of the treatment systems were to fail.
Recently, DHS indicated it would work with Olin and the Santa Clara Valley Water District to develop a quasi-certification process that would allow Olin to cease bottled water deliveries to the users of wells with ion-exhange systems.
