Local/State/Federal Alliance Celebrates Aquifer Restoration

A groundwater-treatment system will be dedicated at a ceremony on October 28 in San Bernardino, CA.

The system presents a barrier consisting of line of wells. The water pumped from the wells flows to a treatment plant.

The system has halted the spread of a plume of contamination that had threatened the water supply of 600,000 people. Sharing credit for the system are the San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), the California Department of Health Services, and the U.S. EPA.

The contaminated water supply includes eight square miles of groundwater tainted by perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene--industrial dry-cleaning, metal-plating, and degreasing solvents. Immediately following discovery of the contaminants, one-third of the City of San Bernardino's water supply wells was shut down. A state Superfund project restored most of those wells to full production between 1988 and 1992.

The Newmark Superfund Site, listed as a national priority for cleanup in 1989, is reputedly one of the largest Superfund sites in the U.S. A second cleanup phase will stop the spread of contamination west of the Shandin Hills, completing construction of treatment facilities at the Newmark site. Treatment is expected to proceed for at least 30 years and cost about $70 million.

Contact: U.S. EPA, Randy Wittorp. Tel: 415-744-1589.