CONTAMINANT DISCOVERED IN WELL WATER ANALYSIS REVEALS ROCKET FUEL COMPONENT IN LOW CONCENTRATIONS.Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer NEWHALL -- Trace amounts of perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. , a component of rocket fuel, have been discovered in a Newhall County Water District well near the contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. Whittaker-Bermite site. Routine tests conducted several months ago detected presence of the chemical at well NC-13, located near the Circle J Ranch subdivision and Oakdale Canyon. The district continues to operate the well, but will conduct further tests and analyses, said General Manager Steve Cole. The amount of perchlorate found was minimal -- from undetectable to up to 1.9 parts per billion, he said. State standards requiring agencies to report the presence of perchlorate is about 4 parts per billion, while the state recommended level for safe drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. is about 6 parts per billion. ``It was detected at a very low concentration,'' Jose Diaz José Díaz, Jose Díaz, José Diaz, or Jose Diaz
Perchlorate in high doses has been connected to thyroid problems. One part per billion is roughly the volume of one grain of sand in an Olympic-size swimming pool. The well, which taps into the deep Saugus Aquifer, is located within 1,000 feet of another well that was capped due to perchlorate contamination in 1998. Decades of munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. testing and manufacturing at the 996-acre Whittaker--Bermite property north of Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon / valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Soledad Canyon contains the localities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, and Agua Dulce. Road has left a chemical plume in the aquifer -- one of Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Valley's prime water sources. Eight water wells -- including NC-13 -- have tested positive for perchlorate. Though officials are unsure about the exact size of the plume, studies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suggest it is moving west and northwest, Diaz said. Officials with Whittaker Corp., which is charged with decontaminating the property, did not return calls for comment Monday. But Cole said the company will pay for the construction of a monitoring well between NC-13 and the Bermite property. ``They will be able to pull samples from those special zones as far as what effects it has on our wells in case of increase concentration,'' he said. ``It'll give us data in overall risks that's out there.'' |
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