With a state board set to decide Friday whether to approve the
newest order requiring road flare manufacturer Olin Corp. to begin
cleaning up a 10-mile perchlorate plume in the groundwater under
Morgan Hill and Gilroy, the extent of the cleanup is still
undetermined.
MORGAN HILL
With a state board set to decide Friday whether to approve the newest order requiring road flare manufacturer Olin Corp. to begin cleaning up a 10-mile perchlorate plume in the groundwater under Morgan Hill and Gilroy, the extent of the cleanup is still undetermined.
Out of 59 wells where Tennessee-based Olin is monitoring perchlorate concentration, 25 have been tested to have a concentration between six and seven parts per billion, Thea Tryon, a staff member of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, told the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group at its meeting in San Martin on Friday. Six parts per billion is considered by national standards as the threshold for cleanup, as complete removal of perchlorate is not possible.
Tryon said Olin’s 12-year prediction for full clean-up is based solely on the “red zone,” or Priority Zone A, where rates have exceeded 24 parts per billion, rendering the water undrinkable and forcing residents to use Olin-supplied bottled water.
While Olin has agreed to drill wells and begin pumping perchlorate from the groundwater in the red zone, it has agreed only to monitor the remaining area. The board has agreed that’s reasonable, but members of PAC have balked at the proposal, which was included in the final draft of the cleanup order. Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes called it “insulting” at a recent council meeting and said the city plans to make a presentation at the board meeting.
The cleanup order revision as of Nov. 21 did have “a change that (Olin is) required to actively remediate Zone B,” Tryon said.
The company indicated there would be difficulties, she said.
“Olin is uncomfortable to treat Priority Zone B because the well they installed is in the wrong site,” Tryon said.
On Friday, the water board’s 7 members are expected to decide whether the Cleanup and Abatement Order prepared by its staff with input from city officials and individuals from Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin is acceptable. If they decide it is, the order will be issued by the board’s executive and become an enforceable document under state law. Members of the public will have three minutes each to address the board, while Olin will get 45 minutes to present its position, Tryon said.
Sylvia Hamilton, chair of community advisory group, reiterated that action was needed soon, giving as example the fact that Morgan Hill residents are paying a 15 percent surcharge on water.
Colleen Freeman, a district director for state Assemblyman John Laird, said at the meeting that the legislator had concerns “for the contingency plan” as proposed in the cleanup order. The order doesn’t specify a detailed-enough plan of action should monitoring natural processes that are expected to decrease perchlorate concentration aren’t sufficient, she said.
The inclusion of such a plan would “go a long way to offer assurance to the community,” Freeman said.
John Robertson, also a staffer with the water board, said “we will not have details on plan B (the contingency plan) next Friday.
“That will take time and will have to be worked out,” he said.
