South Valley’s perchlorate issue will be tackled again next week
when the agency in charge of minding the cleanup gets together for
its monthly meeting.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board meets at
its headquarters in San Luis Obispo on Thursday and Friday, Feb.
5-6 to discuss, on a 34-item agenda, Olin Corp’s. perchlorate
contamination of South Valley groundwater. The board will hear a
status report from David Athey, project manager for the Olin
cleanup progress in Morgan Hill and Hollister.
South Valley’s perchlorate issue will be tackled again next week when the agency in charge of minding the cleanup gets together for its monthly meeting.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board meets at its headquarters in San Luis Obispo on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 5-6 to discuss, on a 34-item agenda, Olin Corp’s. perchlorate contamination of South Valley groundwater. The board will hear a status report from David Athey, project manager for the Olin cleanup progress in Morgan Hill and Hollister.
Athey will bring the board up to date and reply to a board question from Dec. 5 about the USEPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Region IX staff’s position on biological treatment of perchlorate contaminated groundwater. Athey’s written report, filed on the regional board’s Web site, said in the opinion of Wayne Praskins of the USEPA’s Superfund Cleanup Division, biological treatment is a good place to start.
“He (Praskins) mentioned that biological treatment of perchlorate is a proven technology, is cost effective and has been used at the Aerojet facility in Sacramento since 1998,” Athey quoted in his report.
USEPA, Athey wrote, has a “statutory preference for destructive technology,” so biological treatment is preferred over ion exchange with incineration.
“Overall, USEPA is pleased with the results that biological treatment of perchlorate provides,” Athey said.
Athey will also report on perchlorate cleanup cases involving Whittaker Corp. on San Juan Road and McCormick Selph, on Union Road, both in Hollister. McCormick Selph manufactures controlled pyrotechnics for the aerospace and automotive industries and Whittaker Corp. manufactures ordnances and small explosives, processes that use perchlorate.
Cleanup of perchlorate plumes in groundwater are ongoing and Athey will report on the on-site bioremediation efforts for both plumes.
The board will also discuss a waiver of waste discharge requirements for the Olin site on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill.
Olin has installed a groundwater containment system – three extraction wells – at the Tennant Avenue site. Water drawn from the wells – up to 260 gallons per minute – will be treated by ion exchange and sent to the city’s storm drain leading to the Butterfield retention pond. The purpose of the extraction, Athey’s report said, is to reduce perchlorate presence to below 4 parts per billion – the federal mandated level at which the city must notify water users of the chemical’s presence.
“On Dec. 8, 2003, the (RWQCB) executive officer enrolled Olin in the general waiver for low threat discharges to land,” the report said. “This enrollment is subject to Olin’s compliance with conditions contained in Resolution No. R3-2002-0115.”
Athey said the regional board’s staff will have a teleconference with Olin on Wednesday.
“We have reviewed comments from Morgan Hill, Gilroy, the water district and the public,” Athey said, “and will be discussing them with Olin.”
One item on the agenda will be Olin’s study of perchlorate appearing in groundwater northeast of the original site, an occurrence that caused the city to temporarily shut down several municipal wells, install its own treatment plants and will cause a boost in water rates to pay for having to tackle the problem by itself.
Olin has not taken responsibility for any pollution north of Tennant Avenue.
Jim Ashcraft, public works director for Morgan Hill, said he was aware that the regional board and Olin would be talking next week, but hadn’t yet seen the report on the northeast wells.
“We are the ones most directly affected,” Ashcraft said. “I had hoped the new staff would be more aggressive with Olin, but it looks as if they are less aggressive.”
Athey and Eric Gobler, senior project engineer, took over for John Mijares and Harvey Packard in early December.
Thursday, Feb. 5, 3-5 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 6, 8:30 a.m. RWQCB Conference Room, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo.
Details: www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3 or 805-549-3147.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled for March 18-19 in Salinas.
