Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 20, 2008
4. Water Quality
PERCHLORATE:
Rialto accepts deal with county over perchlorate - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
RUNOFF ISSUES:
Mine waste OK to dump; Creek discharges allowed only during high flows - Stockton Record
PERCHLORATE:
Riverside Press
By Mary Bender, staff writer
The disclosure came after the Rialto City Council emerged from a 90-minute closed session. The council began its meeting at 6 p.m., dispensed with routine items on the consent-calendar portion of its agenda and then retreated to a closed session until nearly 8 p.m.
When the open meeting resumed, City Administrator Henry Garcia read this statement:
"The council has voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to execute a settlement agreement with the
Earlier in the meeting, the council approved formation of a joint-powers authority with the city of
The city filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and is trying to get several companies believed responsible for the contamination over the past 55 years to take financial responsibility for the cleanup.
Perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel and fireworks, has been linked to thyroid illnesses. #
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bperch20.a4d4a4.html
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
Under the terms of the agreement, which the council unanimously approved, the county would pay
That cleanup could costs tens of millions of dollars.
"They are really the only responsible party that has stepped forward," Councilman Ed Scott said.
The county's contamination is flowing from the county-owned Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill in
The
Perchlorate, used to produce explosives, is flowing through local drinking water, but officials say it is not being served to residents.
The city filed a federal lawsuit against dozens of parties, including the county, that it suspects of contaminating the water.
The city has also filed a separate lawsuit against the county in state court.
Also during the closed session, the council voted to have one of its outside attorneys, Susan Trager, manage its perchlorate-related legal battle.
Former City Attorney Bob Owen had served in that role until the council fired him in January. #
RUNOFF ISSUES:
Mine waste OK to dump; Creek discharges allowed only during high flows
By Dana Nichols, staff writer
COPPEROPOLIS - Meridian Gold Co. has won permission to occasionally dump salt- and metal-contaminated wastewater from its defunct mine near Copperopolis into a creek that flows to
And that's a good thing, according to state water pollution regulators, the company and even an environmentalist involved in negotiating the closure and cleanup of the Royal Mountain King Mine.
"It is better to discharge before everything fills up and while there is diluting water going down the creek, rather than to have it overflow during and after a rainstorm," said Ken Landau, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency that polices water pollution.
Under a water pollution permit that took effect last week, the site is allowed to discharge waste only when Littlejohns Creek has high flows, generally rainy periods in winter. That means the toxic salts contained in the mining wastes will be diluted and won't pose a hazard to irrigated crops or city drinking water supplies.
High salt levels are often a problem in the Delta in summer and fall, damaging crops and pushing up costs to treat drinking water.
The permit to discharge into Littlejohns Creek, along with a permit the regional board approved last month for discharging wastewater onto land, culminates 14 years of negotiations between the company, water pollution regulators and environmentalists.
The mine operated from 1989 to June 1994, producing about 300,000 ounces of gold, said Edgar Smith, vice president of operations for
That same year, state regulators fined the company for wastewater discharges that occurred in January and February 1993. In 2001, state regulators issued an order for the mine site to cease discharges of polluted water.
The question of what to do with the mine has bounced around the water pollution bureaucracy for years. Twice, the State Water Resources Control Board overturned more-stringent controls set by the regional board.
And the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance sued
That suit was settled, and the company cooperated with the alliance to develop a practical plan for controlling the hazardous runoff that comes from old tailings piles and other mine debris, said Bill Jennings, executive director of the alliance.
"I think we achieved about as much as could be economically achieved up there,"
Smith said the closure and cleanup have been expensive, costing the company about $20million so far. He said work to reclaim and cap the surface of the mine will be finished this summer. Then the company will settle down to monitoring and controlling wastewater from the site, a duty likely to last decades. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/A_NEWS/802190309/-1/A_NEWS
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