Date: Jan. 21, 2004

Senate approves $1.75 million to help battle perchlorate contamination in South County drinking water wells

SANTA CLARA COUNTY — An effort to clean up perchlorate contamination from more than 400 South Santa Clara County drinking water wells received a financial shot in the arm today with congressional approval of $1.75 million to the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

While a specific use or uses of the funding have not yet been decided, it is expected to be used to further the effort of restoring clean water supplies to local families whose wells are affected by perchlorate.

“That Congress singled out Santa Clara County for a share of this funding demonstrates that groundwater contamination from perchlorate is a serious concern not only here, but nationally,” said Walt Wadlow, chief operating officer for the water district’s water utility.

“This is a long and expensive effort, and the federal funding is appreciated by the district and by the community.”

Use of the federal funding will be considered by the Perchlorate Working Group, an alliance of representatives from the county executive’s office, the city managers’ offices of Morgan Hill and Gilroy, and the water district chief executive’s office.

Since discovery a year ago of a 9½-mile-long plume of perchlorate extending from south Morgan Hill through San Martin and into north Gilroy, the district initiated extensive testing of thousands of private and municipal wells. Perchlorate has been found in nearly 450 of those wells.

The perchlorate is left over from a former Olin Corp. flare-manufacturing firm that operated from the mid-1950s until the late 1990s. Perchlorate is considered a health risk to thyroid glands, particularly in pregnant women and infants.

The district has been providing free testing of wells and advising the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the lead agency for investigating the contamination and guiding Olin Corp. toward a cleanup plan.

In the past year, Olin has taken over a free bottled water-distribution program for residents with affected wells begun by the water district; installed a perchlorate-removal system on a Morgan Hill municipal well, and treatment systems on two water-distribution companies’ wells in San Martin.

In addition to the water district, the Regional Board is being advised by the Perchlorate Working Group and an advisory panel of residents known as the Perchlorate Community Action Group.

The district’s effort to secure federal funding for South County was carried by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo, Richard Pombo and Mike Honda, with the support of Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District manages Santa Clara County's wholesale drinking water resources, coordinates flood protection for its 1.7 million residents and provides stewardship for the county's 10 reservoirs and more than 700 miles of streams.