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Down the Drain: Six Case Studies of Groundwater Contamination that are Wasting California's Water 1/28/2003 Down_the_Drain.pdf News Release

Executive Summary

The importance of California's water supply is immeasurable. From quenching thirsty cities to supporting fragile ecosystems to making food grow, each drop of water in California is precious. Recent developments sharply underscore this importance. On January 1st , after years of failed negotiations between water purveyors, the U.S. Department of the Interior cut California's Colorado River water supply by half.1 As the Colorado River is the single largest water source for Southern California,2 this reduction adds enormous uncertainty to the state's water future. The Colorado River reduction highlights the importance of ensuring that California's existing and potential water supplies are thoroughly protected. Despite this importance, however, careless practices pollute billions of gallons of underground drinking water supplies each year.

Down the Drain profiles six cases of groundwater contamination in California and their impact on the state's water supplies. New analysis of data provided by water officials finds that in these six cases alone, 70 billion gallons of otherwise potable water supplies are too polluted to drink. Were these water supplies available for consumption, the volume could compensate for 35% of the water just cut from the Colorado River and support 400,000 families for a year.3 Because California's water supply is a finite, this loss also increased local, regional and statewide pressures on water supply. If this contamination continues, communities across the state may eventually run out of alternative supplies to turn to.

Profile Summaries:

Santa Monica and MTBE
In 1996 city officials discovered MTBE, a gasoline additive linked to cancer, in local drinking water.4 The pollutant leaked into the city's supply wells from nearby gas stations and rendered 80 percent of the city's drinking water supply unusable.5 Each year, 6,897 acre-feet or 2.2 billion gallons of local water goes unused due to this contamination.6 The volume of water lost could supply over 13,000 families with enough water for a year.7 The cost of importing replacement water, which will be paid by the companies responsible for the pollution, will total over $24 million.8

The San Gabriel Valley and Perchlorate
Home to several manufacturers that emerged in the post-World War II industrial boom, the San Gabriel Valley has over one million residents.9 In 1979, local officials discovered PCE and TCE, two chemicals used in a variety of industrial practices, in local drinking water at dangerous levels. In 1997, officials also discovered the presence of perchlorate. PCE and TCE are linked to cancer, while perchlorate can lead to thyroid problems in adults and decreased IQ in developing fetuses.10 The contamination currently disables 50 wells in the community.11 These wells could produce 127,369 acre-feet of water each year, enough to supply water to over 250,000 families. The cost to clean up these wells through wellhead treatment will be over $350 million.12

Fresno and Nitrates
Nitrates are potent toxins that cause a wide range of health problems, including 'blue-baby syndrome.'13 City water officials have closed seven drinking water wells due to nitrate contamination, which has seeped into Fresno drinking water supply wells from agricultural fertilizer and leaking septic tanks.14 These seven wells are capable of producing 8,083 acre-feet of water each year, enough to supply water to 16,000 families.15 Fearing a lack of sufficient water supplies for the upcoming summer, the city will pay over one million dollars in 2003 to treat four of the wells.16

The Inland Empire and Perchlorate
After first discovering perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that is linked to thyroid cancer and decreased IQ, in local drinking water supplies in 1997, three cities in the Inland Empire have closed 20 drinking water wells due to the presence of the contaminant. These wells could produce 61,790 acre-feet of water each year, enough to supply water to over 120,000 families.17 Estimates of cleanup costs run upwards of $40 million.18 The small city of Colton, for example, pays $4,000 each day to provide replacement water to its residents.19

San Diego and MTBE
Underneath Qualcomm Stadium, home to this year's Super Bowl, flows the largest plume of MTBE contamination in the city. The plume, which originates from a large nearby petroleum storage facility, stretches 6,000 feet and threatens the San Diego River.20 City officials would like to use the polluted groundwater basin as a drinking water source by 2015. 21 Despite its potential as a water supply, treating the contamination requires permanently discarding 60 million gallons of water from the basin each year. The water is pumped out of the basin, treated and then released to a local creek, where it ultimately flows to the ocean.22 The MTBE contamination costs the city 180 acre-feet in lost potential water supplies each year.

Rancho Cordova and Perchlorate
Rancho Cordova is a small community of 50,000 located just east of Sacramento.23 The community bears the dubious distinction of hosting the first documented case of drinking water contamination by perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that can harm the thyroid and development of fetuses. Originating from a missile manufacturing facility operated by Aerojet, contamination disables twelve local wells.24 The city's contaminated wells are capable of producing 12,818 acre-feet of water each year, enough to supply water to 24,000 families.

Table 1. Summary of Findings

*Equal to 35% of the recent water reduction to California from the Colorado River 1

Policy Recommendations:

If we are to succeed in ensuring California's water future, it is essential to protect our water supplies from costly and health-threatening contamination. To prevent contamination of California's precious underground water supplies, we recommend the following:

1. Reduce the use of contaminants that threaten our drinking water sources;

2. Increase public access to information about pollution threats;

3. Require full payment of cleanup costs and replacement of lost water supplies by entities that cause contamination;

4. Increase citizen participation in pollution prevention;

5. Fully enforce discharge permits to surface water;

6. Establish protective zones around drinking water wells;

7. Increase the monitoring of underground drinking water sources for contamination; and

8. Require permits for all discharges into California water bodies, including agricultural runoff.

Notes

1. US Department of the Interior, Press Release ‘Inte-rior Department Transmits 2003 Water Order Approv-als to Colorado River Users.’ 27 December 2002

2. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Report on Metropolitan’s Water Supplies, 11 February 2002

3. Tony Perry, ‘Southland Share of Water to Be Cut as Deal Collapses’ The Los Angeles Times 1 Jan 2003 One acre-foot is approximately enough to supply two families with sufficient water from the year

4. California Department of Health Services, MTBE Occurrence Database, Last Updated 7 January 2003

5. Nancy Vogel, ‘Tough Rule Urged for Gas Additive in Drinking Water,’ Sacramento Bee, 9 May 1998

6. City production levels provided by Charmaine Bao, Water Supply Engineer, City of Santa Monica, 9 January 2002. In 1990, the City of Santa Monica produced 1.625 billion gallons from local groundwater sources. In 1995, the city produced 3.270 billion gallons

7. One acre-foot is enough to supply two families with water for a year

8. U.S. EPA Region 9, ‘Unilateral Administrative Or-der for Water Replacement, Shell Oil Company, Shell Oil Products Company, Equilon Enterprises LLCI, U.S. (docket no. RCRA 7003-09-99-0007), 10 March 2000

9. valleynet.org, ‘The Economic Partnership,’ down-loaded 17 January 2002

10. epa.gov/superfund, ‘U.S. EPA,’ downloaded 13 January 2002

11. Number of disabled wells and capacity provided by Kevin Smead, Engineer, Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster

12. ‘U.S. EPA,’ downloaded 13 January 2002

13. epa.gov, ‘U.S. EPA,’ Consumer Factsheet on: Nitrates/ Nitrites, downloaded 12 January 2003

14. Well capacities and closure numbers provided by Douglas Kirk, City of Fresno, 20 January 2002

15. Ibid.

16. Pablo Lopez, ‘Fresno to Restore Four Wells,’ The Fresno Bee, 5 June 2002

17. Well capacities and closure numbers provided by Leon Long, Assistant General Manager, West San Bernardino Municipal Water District

18. Andrew Silva, ‘Our Troubled water,’ San Bernardino County Sun, 14 December 2002

19. Andrew Silva, ‘Water Board Spares Companies from Cleaning Order,’ 13 September 2002

20. Kelly Dorsey, Engineering Geologist, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, Clean Water Task Force Presentation, 5 December 2002

21. Letter to Mayor, City of San Diego from John H. Robertus, Executive Officer, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, 15 November 2002

22. Volumes of treated water discharged provided by Cheryl, Engineer, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, 10 January 2003

23. populations.com, ‘The World News Network,’ downloaded 21 January 2003

24. Number of disabled wells, well capacities provided by Alex MacDonald, Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, 13 January 2003