Perchlorate may threaten Santa Ana River

The state is testing samples and urging well users to switch to Jurupa district water.

Riverside Press-Enterprise, Sandra Stokely
Published August 17, 2001

A chemical that causes thyroid damage may threaten the groundwater supply in the Santa Ana River and has contaminated at least one private well in Mira Loma used for drinking water, state officials said this week. State Department of Toxic Substances Control testing found that perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, emanating from the Stringfellow acid pits has cut a wide swath through Jurupa. State officials are issuing warnings to well users to abandon them and begin using Jurupa Community Services District water for drinking and other uses. State officials are awaiting test results from samples taken from the Santa Ana River, but some suspect they already know the answer. "I believe it (perchlorate) has reached the Santa Ana River," said Allen Winans, supervisory engineering geologist. The Orange County Water District, a water wholesaler for the entire northern part of Orange County, gets about 50 percent of its water from the river. William Miller, general manager for the Orange County district, said a water analysis in 1998-99 did not turn up any perchlorate. Another analysis is scheduled for this summer. This week, toxics officials released preliminary test results showing that perchlorate has contaminated a roughly four-mile-long, three-mile-wide stretch of Jurupa reaching south to the Santa Ana River bed and west to Beach Street. That area could increase in size as testing continues over the next several weeks. "The area has increased significantly over what we originally thought," said Roman Racca of the Department of Toxic Substances Control.