• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Water Cleanup Plan Set Clwa Project Targets Perchlorate Toxins

Posted on: Saturday, 17 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

SANTA CLARITA - The Castaic Lake Water Agency has adopted an estimated $15.3 million cleanup plan that would ultimately rid local groundwater of perchlorate contamination.

The water agency's board on Wednesday unanimously approved the two-step project intended to remove the rocket-fuel chemical that has sullied the Saugus Aquifer and forced the shutdown of five local wells. Officials then will restore any lost water supply by building three new wells.

"We're in the design and coordination phase," Ken Petersen, the agency's engineering manager, said Thursday. "These were projects that the technical people agree to. There is a consensus."

Defunct weapons manufacturers include Whittaker-Bermite, which tested small rockets and missiles on 996 acres off Soledad Canyon Road for nearly 50 years and contaminated the site with various compounds. They include perchlorate, which migrated into the Santa Clarita Valley's groundwater system.

Four municipal wells were shut down in 1997 after tests revealed high concentrations of the chemical, and another well was capped in 2002. The CLWA and local water sellers are scheduled to meet next week with insurers for the bankrupt company to continue negotiating a cleanup settlement.

Perchlorate in large doses can interfere with thyroid function, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment deemed water with as much as 6 parts per billion safe to drink.

The vote - a formality - allows the CLWA to design the pumps and filtration systems to prevent the pollution plume from spreading and treat contaminated water from two of the five capped wells, Petersen said. The estimated cost for this phase is $6.1 million, and is expected to begin in 2006.

The estimated $9.2 million second phase calls for two deep water wells west of Interstate 5 and an shallow alluvial well to replace one near the Saugus Speedway capped in 2002.

But drilling new Saugus Aquifer wells on property west of Six Flags California Magic Mountain can take longer - the land is inaccessible, pending extension west of Magic Mountain Parkway. The Newhall Land and Farming Company is developing the 5,000-home Mission Village phase of its mammoth Newhall Ranch development nearby, and could build the road. But work won't begin until at least 2009.

"It's a few years away," Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer said. "We're looking at how access can be constructed and how it can occur."

"The place we're taking is pretty far away from perchlorate contamination, and this has been a known production area for the Saugus Aquifer," Petersen said.

When completed, the well projects would restore more than half of the water capacity lost to contamination, which the agency is relying on to help meet demand into 2030.

According to the CLWA's draft 2005 Urban Water Management Plan, usage is expected to swell over 25 years from 91,700 acre-feet to 139,700 acre-feet. One acre-foot is the amount of water required to cover one acre of land one foot deep - or 325,851 gallons.

Eugene Tong, (661) 257-5253

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.

More News in this Category