STATE SAYS BOEING'S NEW PROBE FALLS SHORT COMPANY TO BUILD MORE WELLS FOR WATER TESTING.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. - Boeing's plans to investigate perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. contamination near its Rocketdyne test site are incomplete and don't include the extensive groundwater testing needed to determine whether chemical contamination See: contamination. has spread, state regulators said Wednesday. The testing will tell officials whether the rocket fuel ingredient migrated north from Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Santa Susana can refer to several places:
The institute well test was the first time perchlorate was discovered between the hilltop lab and previously discovered contamination on the Simi Valley floor. But regulators say there is not enough evidence to conclude that the perchlorate migrated from Rocketdyne. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The agency monitors exposure to hazardous, radioactive, and toxic wastes in addition to enforcement of compliance by individual businesses, ordered Boeing in July to investigate how perchlorate got into the institute well. The company submitted a work plan in August that promised monitoring wells, expanded testing and geologic studies. But DTSC DTSC Department of Toxic Substances Control DTSC DARCOM Technical Steering Committee officials said the company didn't commit to the specific testing and investigations ordered by the state. ``We determined the work plan didn't adequately respond to the concerns we outlined to Boeing,'' said Gerard Abrams, the senior DTSC geologist charged with overseeing the cleanup at the lab. The DTSC will present its concerns with the work plan and requirements at a public meeting tonight. Boeing has 30 days to submit the new work plan, but the company should start work within two weeks on new groundwater-monitoring wells so work won't be delayed by the rainy season, Abrams said. Boeing officials said they just received the DTSC's findings and hadn't had a chance to review them. But they were confident that the testing ordered by the DTSC would confirm that perchlorate has not moved off the Rocketdyne site. ``There's been more than 2,500 environmental samples taken over a six- year time period. Results of all that sampling indicates to us that the contamination is on-site,'' said Art Lenox, Santa Susana Field Lab project manager for chemical remediation. The bedrock under the site, he said, acts as a sponge and minimizes perchlorate migration. For the investigation, the DTSC wants the company to install eight new groundwater-testing wells - above the four the company initially proposed - and retrofit several existing wells to allow more accurate sampling at different depths. The company must also install a new monitoring well next to a bathtub well on the Brandeis-Bardin Institute property, where perchlorate was found at unsafe levels in some tests but wasn't detected in other tests. The old well was an artesian well artesian well, deep drilled well through which water is forced upward under pressure. The water in an artesian well flows from an aquifer, which is a layer of very porous rock or sediment, usually sandstone, capable of holding and transmitting large quantities of that flowed into a bathtub for use as a water trough for animals and was not intended for testing. Regulators also ordered Boeing to develop immediate measures to stop perchlorate groundwater contamination from moving any farther, rather than the long-term study proposed by the company. The company has to file a timetable on developing those measures. DTSC officials tonight will also discuss Boeing's plans to clean up the site's most highly 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. soil, near a building where perchlorate was stored and processed. The company has begun to excavate tainted taint v. taint·ed, taint·ing, taints v.tr. 1. To affect with or as if with a disease. 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate. 3. soil, which it will dispose of elsewhere. In some cases, the contaminated soil will be piled on a flat area for bioremediation bi·o·re·me·di·a·tion n. The use of biological agents, such as bacteria or plants, to remove or neutralize contaminants, as in polluted soil or water. , in which bacteria is used to eat the perchlorate and produce chlorine and water as byproducts. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com IF YOU GO: The DTSC will hold a public informational meeting at 7 tonight at the Simi Valley City Council chambers at 2929 Tapo Canyon Road. CAPTION(S): box, map Box: IF YOU GO (see text) Map: Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory Daily News |
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