Regulators Want Olin’s Pollution Cleaned Up Now

Olin Corporation has received marching orders to begin cleaning
up its pollution of the water table without delay.
San Martin – Olin Corporation has received marching orders to begin cleaning up its pollution of the water table without delay.

In a letter sent out March 29, Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Director Roger Briggs requested the road-flare company to “expeditiously” implement plans for an elaborate system of wells, pumps and treatment systems. The wells will be installed by this fall if all goes according to plan.

“It is our position that agreement on the actual … clean-up level for perchlorate in groundwater is not critical at this time,” Briggs wrote. “The most important aspect of this clean-up case is to ensure that active remediation of the Llagas Subbasin begins.”

But the system won’t be fully operational until two years from now.

“The idea is to implement cleanup and adjust as we go,” said Hector Hernandez, an engineer with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, speaking the night of March 29 in San Martin at the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group meeting at the Lion’s Hall.

Olin is responsible for an underground plume of perchlorate stretching southeast from the company’s old road-flare plant on Tennant Avenue, in Morgan Hill. Perchlorate contamination was first reported by the company in February 2001 when it was trying to sell the factory. 

Perchlorate is a chemical used in rocket fuel and explosives. It is known to disrupt thyroid function and prenatal growth and development. Scientists are debating on how much perchlorate it takes to cause health problems.

Olin continues to deliver bottled water to 253 households in San Martin whose wells test above the state’s health goal for perchlorate, which is six parts per billion. The total number of private wells affected by the pollution stands at 174, down from more than 800 more than a year ago. Some wells are used by more than one household.

Olin’s active clean-up efforts will focus on the 550 acres directly southeast of the company’s now-closed factory the wells are located.

The total extent of the company’s pollution is under debate. The Santa Clara Valley Water District hopes to shed light on the matter with a “perchlorate forensics” study in 2008 to trace chemicals from Olin and other sources.