It was one year ago today that the word
“perchlorate” exploded across Morgan Hill and San Martin,
destroying confidence in the water that comes from taps and causing
havoc with treasuries and property values.
It was one year ago today that the word “perchlorate” exploded across Morgan Hill and San Martin, destroying confidence in the water that comes from taps and causing havoc with treasuries and property values.
On Jan. 16, 2003 the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board held a press conference and announced that perchlorate from an abandoned safety flare plant on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill had leached down into the underground water table. Over the course of the plant’s 40-year life, the chemical had spread in a southeasterly “plume” through southern Morgan Hill and into San Martin and was now polluting as many as 450 wells.
During the past year, residents and government officials alike learned what was available about the chemical and frequently said they mostly learned how much there was still to discover.
Sylvia Hamilton, a San Martin resident who is, and was then, chair of the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance, said she was jolted to consider that a year had passed.
“It was scary when we first heard about it,” Hamilton said. “SMNA had already been formed (as a local action group) but with this one I was just at a loss. I had no idea who to contact; I didn’t even know the Regional Board existed.” The Regional Board became the lead agency supervising the contamination’s research and eventual clean up.
Hamilton quickly got her bearings and has led the community effort to work with officials and Olin Corp.
Little was known about the plume’s extent or the effect of perchlorate on the health of human beings and animals or on their crops. Also unknown was how much perchlorate was safe to drink and if the level was different for adults, small children or expectant mothers.
The chemical was known to cause tumors and thyroid problems but amounts found in most local wells were fairly low.
The State of California had not yet set a standard though it did mark an “action level” of 4 parts per billion. An action level is the point at which water providers must notify their customers of a pollutant’s presence in the water, though they are under no obligation to stop selling the water.
The City of Morgan Hill, however, has always shut down any well with a level over 4 ppb.
City Manager Ed Tewes said his biggest fear was running out of water for fire reserves when three large city wells were shut during hot weather because of perchlorate levels.
The state was required to set such a standard by Jan. 1, 2004, which has not yet happened. Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County’s health officer, said this is a consequence of the new California government.
“The new governor put a moratorium on all new regulations,” Fenstersheib said.
Unlike many other perchlorate contaminations state-and-nationwide, this culprit was both known, still in business and still financially viable. Olin Corp. owned up almost immediately to the responsibility for the problem.
Of the wells tested by Jan. 16, 2003, one showed a level of 98 ppb, two showed levels of 32 ppb and all others were at 4-10 ppb or lower.
The water district report states that adverse health effects are not anticipated from levels between 4 and 18 parts per billion (ppb).
Opinions differed, however, and Olin and the water district joined forces to deliver free bottled water to every private well with a level higher than 4 ppb.
Fenstersheib said he has spent the year getting up to speed.
“We talked, we researched, we heard from experts in PMAG (the Perchlorate Medical Action Group),” Fenstersheib said. “We can’t even begin to understand the risk until we see what is known and that’s a key part of figuring out what needs to be done.” PMAG was formed to communicate with the community, with state and federal officials, the medical community and the county health department, he said.
“We found in one study that a first look at newborns in the community showed no increased numbers with thyroid problems,” he said. Most important is educating the public and an effort will be made in the next year to broaden that knowledge, Fenstersheib said.
He expects that 2004 will bring a better understanding of the health risks and that and idea of the effects from eating fruits and vegetables where perchlorate is present will be found.
Fenstersheib praised the community involvement.
“This is a great example of community organization that made the problem much more visible,” he said.
Tom Mohr, engineering geologist for the water district said the year has brought him a much greater sense of the problem’s impact and the size of the plume.
“The distribution is far greater than originally guessed,” Mohr said. “Then we thought it was four to five miles; now we know it is nine and one-quarter miles.”
Next year will be more of a challenge, he said. “For Olin to address problems on their site was more easily defined; off-site (the 450 private wells) is a taller order.”
Tracy Hemmeter, of SCVWD’s groundwater management unit responded to the year.
“We have a better sense of the magnitude of the problem – we found that there were actually 450 polluted wells,” Hemmeter said. “The bottled water transition is slower than we dreamed but it is moving.” She couldn’t predict what would happen in the next year.
Hamilton is the key to the community involvement and now head of the Perchlorate Community Action Group (PCAG) that forms the link between the community and all agencies. But at a February, 2003 meeting with a fearful community, the direction was not so clear.
“I remember that night, watching people – my heart going out to the people on the panel,” Hamilton said. Over the year, Hamilton said she has learned about clean up technology, communication and lawsuits and she was complimentary about Olin Corp. and grateful for help from county, state and federal agencies.
New also are binders with all perchlorate reports, available to the public at the Morgan Hill and Gilroy city libraries and the Gavilan branch campus at 17000 Monterey Road.
“Together we will find the solutions from working together; education and communication are the key,” Hamilton said.
The City of Morgan Hill had a different experience.
“We’ve had ups and downs with Olin,” said Jim Ashcraft, public works director. “To date Olin has accepted no responsibility for the presence of perchlorate in our city wells northeast of the site. A bigger problem,” he said, “is getting our arms around the problem.”
Many previous stories on perchlorate are available at www.morganhilltimes.com
