Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 4, 2007
4. Water Quality
CLEANUP EFFORTS:
Lodi shifts focus to toxins cleanup - Stockton Record
SEWAGE SPILL:
Southern coastal areas closed by sewage spill - San Diego Union Tribune
CLEANUP EFFORTS:
By Daniel Thigpen, staff writer
Already, about 5 tons of toxic chemicals have been removed over the past five years from the soil and groundwater in one of five polluted sections of town, according to city environmental consultant Treadwell & Rollo. But much of the cleanup effort, which could take $48 million and 30 years to complete, has yet to begin.
City Councilwoman Susan Hitchcock said she is eager to shift gears after spending much of her nine-year tenure dealing with groundwater litigation.
"It's something to look forward to as far as the cleanup, even though it's down the road a way," she said. "Now we know we can totally focus our energy on that, instead of spending our money on litigation."
Industrial solvents tricholorethene and perchloroethene were detected in the city's groundwater in 1989, and the state ordered the city to clean up the chemicals.
For years, the city has been trying to force suspected polluters, their insurance companies and the city's own insurance carriers to pay for the cleanup. Only a few remaining pieces of litigation remain, city officials said.
The city and its environmental consultants are still figuring out the best way to rid the ground and water of the toxic industrial cleaning chemicals business and property owners dumped into leaky city sewer pipes decades ago.
One method, best for cleaning up contaminated soil, has been used off and on for a couple of years near the Church Street site of Guild Cleaners, one of dozens of suspected polluters that have settled with the city in recent years.
The process, called soil vapor extraction, involves pumping air out of the soil and catching the vaporized contaminants in a filter.
Another method targets the polluted water underground and involves drilling wells and pumping groundwater through a filter, much like the wells throughout the city that filter drinking water.
City consultants are using computer models to illustrate how underground pollution changes location and concentration over time, said Phil Smith, vice president and principal geologist with Treadwell & Rollo. The tactic will help the city decide how to most effectively target the contamination as cleanup progresses.
Another question looming is how much money the city has at its disposal for the cleanup and whether the costs could increase over time.
The city is anticipating collecting roughly $15 million in settlement cash and in-kind proceeds from suspected polluters. That leaves the city's share of the cleanup and other related expenses, including litigation and settlements it had to pay out, at about $48 million.
To chip away at that cost, the city in recent months has won nearly $7.8 million in settlements with six of its own insurance carriers, whose policies protected the city before the contamination was discovered.
The city still is in talks with two remaining insurance carriers, City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said.
But it is unclear how far a 38 percent water rate increase, approved in 2005 to help offset the bulk of the cleanup expenses, will stretch as the cleanup drags on and costs fluctuate, Public Works Director Richard Prima said.
"We'll be doing this for years, literally years," he said. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/A_NEWS/710040325
SEWAGE SPILL:
Southern coastal areas closed by sewage spill
The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health said the 15,000-gallon sewage spill occurred from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. yesterday near
Crews from the National City Public Works Department recovered 9,000 gallons of sewage. The remaining 6,000 gallons flowed into a storm drain that empties into the
Signs warning of sewage-contaminated water will remain in place until testing shows the bay water is safe.
For information, call the National City Public Works Department at (619) 336-4580.
For updates on closures, call the 24-hour hotline at (619) 338-2073 or go to beaches911.org and select “
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071004-9999-1m4b2briefs.html
####
No comments:
Post a Comment