Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 11, 2008
4. Water Quality
WELL WATER:
Cal Water planned for residents with contaminated wells - Chico Enterprise Record
GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN:
Groundwater plan given OK from council - Antelope Valley Press
WELL WATER:
Cal Water planned for residents with contaminated wells
By Chris Gullick, staff writer
Clean water is coming to a south
About 60 homes in the
Bottled water was first provided to the homes, then filters, soon after a plume of groundwater contamination was identified about four years ago, but the residents wanted a more permanent solution.
"Almost unanimously, people wanted Cal Water," said Don Dunbar, who had become the unofficial spokesperson for the neighborhood.
The filters, although making the water safe to use, also made the water taste bad, said Scott Laursen.
Others complained that the filters made their water cloudy and bad smelling.
"It was the best tasting water before. Now it's awful," Laursen said.
Last week, all the residents got a letter from ABB telling them the corporation would provide hook-ups to California Water Service Company.
Representatives from ABB and officials from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the agency that regulates hazardous waste and oversees clean-up efforts, met with about 25 of the residents to outline their plans Thursday evening.
As soon as an agreement with Cal Water can be finalized, the work will begin, even though the investigation of the contamination plume isn't complete.
More monitoring wells will be drilled and samples analyzed to identify where the contamination lies more exactly, said Sarah Raker of Mactec, the company that will do the actual remediation work.
A specific cleanup plan will be designed after the analysis, but residents won't have to wait for it.
"We decided to bring in water to the community," said ABB spokesman Ronald Kurtz. "We decided to do it now rather than wait until the investigation was done."
When they heard Kurtz's statement, people at the meeting applauded.
"That was such a relief to get that letter in the mail," Jan Larsen told him.
Although reassured, the residents had questions, too — about when the hook-ups might be complete, what would happen to the carbon filters in place now, if the contamination might have been higher in the past or if it was lower than four years ago, how long the decontamination might take, and more.
Along with city water, the plan outlined to the group includes fire hydrants and an option to keep wells functioning for irrigation purposes.
After engineering by Cal Water, the project could be done in about four months — certainly by the end of the year.
The Skyway plume was discovered when area residents asked for wells to be tested because they were concerned a nearby tank farm might be leaking petroleum-based contaminants into their groundwater. Instead, unacceptable levels of chlorinated solvents were found and traced back to an operation that manufactured aluminum shower enclosures on
Preliminary tests revealed the contamination extends about two miles from its origin, flowing under Skyway and Cessna avenues and ending along
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_7941049
GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN:
Groundwater plan given OK from council
By Bob Wilson, staff writer
With a 4-0 vote in the absence of member Jim Jeffra, the
The integrated regional plan needed only one approval, but state officials required a second formal approval for the Groundwater Management Plan, said Randy Williams, director of
"Part of that (integrated) document was another internal element or chapter that was the Groundwater Management Plan," which required a separate approving vote, Williams told the council.
"I know this is confusing; it was for me, too," Williams said.
No members of the council raised questions or offered comments about the item, and no members of the public came forward to speak before the council's ballots were cast.
The water plans must be approved before Jan. 28 by the 11 government agencies that supported their development before water representatives can apply for state and federal funds to implement specific programs. So far,
The Palmdale City Council and the board of directors of the Palmdale Water District will meet today to discuss the implications of the region's water plans.
The Palmdale Water District provides drinking water to the eastern half of the city, while the county's Waterworks District 40 provides drinking water to the western half of Palmdale and most of
Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford and water district director Jeff Storm have voiced objections to plan elements that discuss using treated wastewater to recharge the region's underground supply of clean water.
Chapter 5 of the integrated plan shows county Waterworks District 40 is to evaluate using treated wastewater "to provide water for recharging the Antelope Valley region's groundwater basin, saving money that is being spent for potable water, providing a valuable alternative for effluent management and promoting state policies of beneficial reuse of recycled water to replace potable water where possible."
The same chapter shows
In a draft report on the study released a year ago, Lancaster researchers "found that groundwater recharge using recycled water could provide up to 30,000 acre-feet a year of new water supply to the Antelope Valley region by 2025," the integrated plan shows.
The water to be added to the Valley's groundwater basin would be "a blend of recycled water" from the
The plan document shows the Palmdale Water District is to "identify potential projects to provide the planned use of recycled and other water sources for groundwater recharge and banking in the southeast portion of the Antelope Valley Region."
The water district also is to "identify regulatory requirements, possible obstacles for (achieving) permitting, and strategies for addressing (the obstacles)."
Ledford, who chairs the area boards in charge of the two sanitation districts that operate in Lancaster and Palmdale, said he is concerned about the technological inability to remove the heavy metals and manufactured drugs during the process of reclaiming sewage water.
The boards of both sanitation districts also must approve the Antelope Valley Integrated Regional Water Management and Groundwater Management plans if grant money for its various projects is to be sought.
The remaining agencies involved in the approval process are the Antelope Valley State Water Contractors Association, the Littlerock Creek Irrigation District, the Quartz Hill Water District and the Rosamond Community Services District.
Ledford also has pointed out that Waterworks District 40 already is using six wells to inject external water into the region's underground water supply and is planning to increase the number to 15 "to allow for the maximum injection rate" for adding external water.
Today's meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the chambers of the Palmdale City Council,
http://www.avpress.com/n/10/0110_s2.hts
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