News Coverage
Chemical Drawing Attention
Data shine light on perchlorate
Published April 6, 2003
SANTA CLARITA -- While local leaders have been grappling with perchlorate-contaminated drinking water for nearly six years, the issue has begun to receive national attention in the last several months.
Santa Clarita city officials are hopeful that the national spotlight, drawn by newly discovered information that the rocket and missile fuel byproduct is more prevalent and more harmful than originally thought, will add momentum to the city's efforts to clean up the defunct Bermite explosives factory and the area's groundwater.
"We're hoping this means more force and resources are put toward setting a safe standard for perchlorate and finding an effective cleanup method," said Planning Director Jeff Lambert.
A provisional standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that drinking water have no more than 1 part per billion of perchlorate. The old standard considered water with 32 parts per billion of perchlorate safe.
The EPA is not expected to set an enforceable national standard until at least 2008, although U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has called for the agency to act next year because of the threat perchlorate poses to California residents.
"There is a lot of intense political maneuvering going on right now," said Bill Walker, vice president of the West Coast division of the Environmental Working Group, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. "Hopefully, it will accelerate the process of cleaning up the most polluted sites, but it is impossible to see how it will shake out."
Five wells in Santa Clarita were shut down after tests revealed that the water contained 25 parts per billion to 40 parts per billion of perchlorate. The wells draw on the Saugus Aquifer, which serves as a backup water supply for the Santa Clarita Valley in times of drought.
State officials believe the pollution is coming from the Bermite property near the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station on Soledad Canyon Road. From World War II to the end of the Cold War, several companies manufactured and tested munitions and explosives for the U.S. military on the 996-acre site.
Drinking water for more than 20 million Americans is contaminated with perchlorate, which has been shown to interfere with normal thyroid function and may cause cancer. Nationwide, nearly 300 wells have been shut down because of perchlorate pollution, including those in Santa Clarita.
"This is no longer a regional problem in Southern California, but a national problem," Walker said. "Over the last year, there has been a real explosion in what we know about perchlorate pollution. But we're not at the end of the learning curve."
The city's effort to rid the Saugus Aquifer of perchlorate has also been complicated by the lack of a fully approved cleanup method, officials said.
An ion-exchange treatment system is being used to rid water of perchlorate during testing on the polluted Santa Clarita wells, according to water officials.
It has not yet been formally approved by the California Department of Health Services to produce drinking water, although it has been used successfully in the San Gabriel Valley, officials said.
"The outcome of all this is very uncertain," Walker said.
Adding to the uncertainty is legislation proposed by the Bush administration that would exempt some defense contractors from having to pay for environmental cleanups in the name of military readiness.
While city officials do not expect such a bill to have any impact in Santa Clarita, some local water officials are concerned that it could let Whittaker Corp., which operated the site until 1987, off the hook.
The Newhall County Water District Board of Directors is expected this week to adopt a resolution condemning the proposed legislation.
Several board members accused the Bush administration of taking advantage of the war in Iraq, and the nation's support for the military, to ease environmental regulations.
Simi Valley-based Whittaker has been ordered by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to clean the property, but company officials hope to sell the site to Cherokee Investment Partners, a North Carolina remediation firm.
"The language in the bill is very broad and is open to wide interpretation," Walker said. "It could give a free pass to some defense contractors like Whittaker."
Cherokee has said it does not expect the bill to have any impact on its plans to clean up and develop the site.
"Right now, things are so unsettled that nobody can predict where this is going to end up," Walker said. "We're closer to the beginning than the end."