The Perchlorate Community Advisory Group will have its first meeting in about nine months Dec. 19 in San Martin, where residents will hear the latest update from regulators on efforts to clean up the remnants of a perchlorate spill into the South County groundwater.
The meeting will start at 1 p.m. at the San Martin Lions Club, 12415 Murphy Ave.
The PCAG will hear an update from the Regional Water Quality Control Board on the cleanup of the harmful chemical that leached into the groundwater basin from Olin Corporation’s former road flare factory on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill, according to PCAG Chair Bob Cerruti.
The contamination was discovered in 2003, and Olin has been held accountable for the ensuing cleanup of perchlorate, a chemical that can be harmful to humans if consumed in higher-than-background quantities.
And the cleanup efforts have proceeded thoroughly in the last 10 years, Cerruti said. At one point nearly 200 homes in San Martin had well water that contained perchlorate levels significantly higher than state and federal standards.
Those households had to use bottled water until the levels dropped through the cleanup efforts. But now, only eight of those households remain on bottled water, Cerruti said.
The last update on the cleanup process, at a PCAG meeting in February, indicated there is only one remaining “hotspot” in the groundwater basin containing higher-than-acceptable perchlorate levels, Cerruti said.
To remove the perchlorate, the water is pumped out of that area near Middle and Maple avenues in north San Martin, up Tennant Avenue to an “ionized exchange” system in Morgan Hill. That system removes the harmful chemicals from the groundwater, and returns the cleaner water back underground.
“That was the last big project that Olin had to pay for,” Cerruti said. “There’s virtually no loss of water, but the water quality is improving every day.”
The PCAG, a grassroots citizen advisory group made up of concerned residents, was formed shortly after the contamination was discovered in 2003. It was largely spearheaded by Sylvia Hamilton, a late San Martin resident who died in February.
Cerruti commended Hamilton, the RWQCB and his fellow residents for “holding Olin’s feet to the fire” and cleaning up the mess.
“It looks like the perchlorate levels in many areas is way below the state maximum,” Cerruti said. “Things are looking really good. In 10 years, we’ve been able to knock this thing down. People were saying it would take 50 years to clean this up.”
Copies of past PCAG and RWQCB meetings, as well as correspondence among the agencies and Olin and maps of the contaminated areas, are available at the Morgan Hill Library, Cerruti added.
