It was one step forward, one step back and a glimmer of hope at
the PCAG (the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group) meeting Friday
in San Martin.
It was one step forward, one step back and a glimmer of hope at the PCAG (the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group) meeting Friday in San Martin.
News of a process to identify the origin of perchlorate in water was one step forward. The one step back was Olin Corp. filing an appeal that could ultimately relieve the company from its responsibility to provide an alternative source of pure water for residents on contaminated wells and to clean up the soil and groundwater it polluted.
A decision on the appeal will likely not be made for more than a year.
David Athey, the state regional water quality control board’s project manager for the South Valley contamination, said the Olin appeal is in response to a cleanup and abatement order (CAO) the regional board imposed in July. Olin was to provide bottled water for residents on wells whose water tested at 4 parts per billion or more.
The state set 6 ppb as a Public Health Goal in March, and Olin has said it thought 4 ppb too stringent a standard.
The company appealed the entire CAO including the order to perform monitoring and provide treatment systems on individual wells and, Athey said, a decision could take as much as a year and a half. In the meantime, Olin has asked the state water board – the regional board’s parent agency – for a stay on the cleanup order until the appeal is decided. This could halt any bottled water distribution but Athey said he was promised – verbally, but not in writing – that that would not happen.
“Rick McClure (of Olin) told me they intend to comply with the order until the appeal is decided,” Athey said, despite the stay request.
On the good news side, Athey reported on an advance in identifying where a sample of perchlorate comes from.
“Some scientists are using a strontium nitrate isotope to “fingerprint” perchlorate in groundwater,” Athey told PCAG and several members of the public.
Such fingerprinting could be helpful locally, he said after the meeting, because Olin Corp., the source of the chemical south of Tennant Avenue, could also be charged with responsibility for perchlorate in wells north of Tennant. The City of Morgan Hill has had to close several wells north of the former Olin Corp./Standard Fusee plant at Tennant and Railroad avenues, because of detectable levels of perchlorate.
Olin does not take responsibility for the chemical found north of its site, claiming the underground water table flows south.
“It’s possible that water, at one time, flowed north,” Athey said. There are also mechanical reasons why the chemical is found in the Nordstrom and Dunne wells such as pumping from the aquifer.
City Public Works Director Jim Ashcraft said Monday that isotope tracking is good news but the city is still a bit unhappy with the regional board.
“We continue to be greatly unhappy that the regional board hasn’t made (Olin) do any type of sampling to show perchlorate’s presence (in wells north of Tennant),” Ashcraft said.
The city has not performed the tests either.
“Sampling gets very expensive quickly because to do it right, you have to drill monitoring wells,” he said.
Athey was reporting on a recent seminar of groundwater experts where perchlorate was the focus.
“We’ve gained 1,000 percent (knowledge and understanding) over last year,” Athey said.
Rosemary Kamei, South Valley’s representative to the Santa Clara Valley Water District board, also attended the seminar.
Other positive news was that certification for several small wellhead and in-house water treatment systems to remove perchlorate from drinking water is on the horizon, with more details promised soon.
PCAG was formed to communicate with South Valley residents what has been discovered and what has been done about the groundwater contamination by 40 years of safety flare manufacturing. Led by San Martin resident and super volunteer, Sylvia Hamilton, it also includes representatives from valley water, the regional board, local farmers and water experts.
A fellow group, PMAG, was formed to gather and communicate information on the effects of perchlorate on medical and health issues.
PMAG’s Janie Burkhart, handed out one-page perchlorate information sheets in English and Spanish printed by the county and telling of current standards, who is most affected, how to use water safely and protecting ones health, with plenty of contact information.
The handouts are available at locations around San Martin and Morgan Hill, including the library, Las Madres groups, the Chamber of Commerce, The Morgan Hill Times, BookSmart, the House of Bagels and – soon – at schools in the affected areas – San Martin/Gwinn, Paradise Valley, Barrett and Nordstrom in Morgan Hill and Rucker in Gilroy.
They are also being distributed to day laborers and farm workers, many of whom live in the east San Martin area where many private wells are contaminated by the chemical.
Peg Pinard, running as a Democrat for the state Senate District 15, offered the glimmer of hope. Pinard said she would not make a political speech but, instead, wanted to share her experiences successfully negotiating with Unocal Corp. to clean up a highly contaminated Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County.
Pinard has always claimed her experiences could be useful to South Valley residents and responsible agencies as they do battle with Olin Corp.
“It is important that you are satisfied with the eventual (maximum contaminant level) and that the results of health research are clear (the complete long term effects of perchlorate remain largely unknown),” Pinard said. “Before you sign off on the cleanup everything must be complete.”
She said Olin’s appeal was a bad sign and that every agency must get together in mutual support to keep the company toeing the line.
Pinard, a San Luis Obispo County supervisor and former mayor, made an agreement with Unocal to fund health studies, something that has yet to be done locally.
“In a way, you are lucky,” Pinard said. “Avila was so polluted that the town was effectively shut down for 10 years. Banks wouldn’t make loans; insurance companies wouldn’t write policies.”
She said they finally hooked up to an outside water source, had huge amounts of soil excavated and homes demolished and got back on their feet.
“Insist on the highest level of cleanup,” she told PCAG. “We asked the banks and insurance companies what (remedies) it would take to do business (with Avila residents and business owners) again.”
Athey said Olin’s appeal document should be posted on the regional board’s website soon: www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/
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.
