Sludge Watch ==> Barstow Calif - sludge spreading halted - nitrate contaminated wells

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.desertdispatch.com/onset?db=desertdispatch&id=509&template=article.html

City looks into providing bottled water to Soap Mine Road residents
By AARON AUPPERLEE Staff Writer
May 3, 2007 - 7:16AM


'Is our water safe to drink?' Soap Mine Road resident Christina Bryne asks 
DPRA
consultants Gary Vargas, right, and Robert Falero at Wednesday's City 
Council
study session on nitrate pollution in the Soap Mine Road area. BARSTOW - Jim
Swartwout, a Soap Mine Road area resident concerned about nitrate pollution,
told the City Council he cares about the "little guy."

And by the end of Wednesdays study session on nitrate pollution, he felt 
like
the Council did, too. At the conclusion of the meeting, Council member Joe 
Gomez
directed the city - without accepting blame in the matter - to investigate
providing water to families in the Soap Mine Road area whose water has high
nitrate levels.

"We had a Council member stand up and help get some people some water,"
Swartwout said. "Now it's starting to change."

Gomez asked the city to determine the cost of providing bottled water for
families drinking from wells with a nitrate levels of nine milligrams per 
liter
or higher. He also asked that city staff determine how many women in that 
area
are pregnant because nitrate contamination presents a health risk to 
infants. As
nitrates work into an infant's body, it can block the blood from properly
carrying oxygen, potentially a fatal situation if untreated.

Drinking water is considered polluted when it contains 10 mg/L of nitrates 
or
more, according to Mike Plaziak, a senior engineering geologist with the
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

City Manager Hector Rodriguez said the city will do the analysis based on 
the
Council's direction.

Based on tests done last year, there are 12 wells in the Soap Mine Road area
with a nitrate levels above nine, said Soap Mine Road resident Christina 
Bryne.
Soap Mine Road residents plan to have their wells retested on May 10.

Soap Mine Road residents have butted heads with the city over nitrate
contamination in the area since learning about the contamination in 2006. In
2004, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the city to 
stop
spreading sewage on the fields after finding high levels of nitrates in the
ground water. City efforts to monitor and define the nitrate contamination
became partially de-railed in April when a report from DPRA, an 
environmental
consulting firm, questioned the testing data presented to the city.

Gary Vargas, a consultant with DPRA, said he was unable to draw many 
conclusions
from the testing done by RGS because of inconsistencies in the data. RGS is 
a
sub-contractor hired by Aquarion, the city's wastewater treatment service
provider.

"We would have loved to have used it, but we couldn't," Vargas told the 
Council.

After reviewing the data, DPRA questioned at least a dozen reports that have
duplicate or near-duplicate results across several testing sites and 
numerous
inconsistencies in the data. A total of 17 monthly monitoring reports from 
March
2003 to January 2007 were found to have questionable laboratory results,
according to the report. DPRA marked every monitoring report from June 2005 
to
January 2007 questionable.

DPRA's report suggested that the city and Aquarion end its relationship with
RGS. Pat Lendway, the city's wastewater treatment coordinator, said the city 
is
investigating that relationship. Aquarion's contract with the city ends in
February 2009.

Plaziak said Lahontan will issue a report on May 18 evaluating DPRA's report 
and
could require the city to do additional investigation in the area.

"The validity of the data is of concern to us, serious concern to us," 
Plaziak
said. "We're going to look very closely into that."

Lahontan may also issue an enforcement order to the city directing it to 
clean
up pollution found to be the city's fault, he said. The enforcement order 
could
also mandate that the city provide bottled water to affected residents.