RESULTS ARE EXPECTED ON WATER TESTS DATA TO GUIDE SITE CLEANUP.Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is waiting for test results from groundwater samplings it took from five wells drilled at the contaminated Whittaker Bermite site. Within the next few weeks, officials should have a better idea of the size and scope of perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. plume that has spread on the property of the former 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. factory in the center of Santa Clarita. ``We are trying to connect the dots,'' said Ayed Ireifej, Corps project coordinator. ``We are trying to find out how far the contamination traveled, both horizontally and vertically.'' Officials extracted gallons of water from the 1,600-foot wells that they began drilling on various sites of the property in November. Experts then lowered buckets into the 8-inch diameter wells and took samples from various depths. Up to 12 samples were taken from each well. The Corps plans to drill four more wells outside the property to determine the length of the plume that has shut down several wells owned by the Newhall County Water District, Santa Clarita Water Co. and Valencia Water Co. since 1997, when officials discovered the water was unfit to drink. The government agency is working with the city of Santa Clarita and private property owners to determine where the drilling will take place, but work won't begin until it receives more funding, Ireifej said. It has already spent $3.5 million on drilling and testing the first five wells. That money could come soon after President George W. Bush last week approved the federal budget that includes $1.5 million to be used to map the plume of pollution in the Saugus Aquifer. While the funding will help aid the remedial investigation, the Castaic Lake Water Agency will pay $4.8 million of the $9.6 million that will map the plume. Officials hope that Remediation Financial Inc., the owner of the property, will pay for nearly $3 million of the agency's share. The CLWA CLWA Chip-Level Weibull Analysis CLWA Children living with AIDS (Lancaster, OH) has sued Whittaker Corp., which operated the munitions factory until 1987, and Remediation Financial Inc., to recover those costs. The entire cleanup could cost $35 million. The water agency also has begun testing several contaminated wells to determine the size of the perchlorate plume, officials said. It hopes to pump the groundwater and filter it through an ion exchange ion exchange n. A reversible chemical reaction occurring between an insoluble solid and a solution during which ions may be interchanged, used in the separation of radioactive isotopes. system to rid it of the chemical before its pumped back into the Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
1. to strain; to submit to percolation. 2. to trickle slowly through a substance. 3. a liquid that has been submitted to percolation. back into the Saugus Aquifer. The ion exchange system worked in the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. to rid the groundwater there of the chemical believed to damage the thyroid, and is the only method that will clean the water of the contaminant contaminant /con·tam·i·nant/ (kon-tam´in-int) something that causes contamination. contaminant something that causes contamination. to make it suitable for drinking, officials said. This testing is expected to be complete in June. CAPTION(S): map Map: Former Whittaker Bermite site |
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