From the December 11, 2003 issue of the SUN
By Amanda Noonan Heyman
SUN Staff Writer
Environmental tests indicate that a 16-acre patch of contaminated ground water underneath Española has not grown.
The contamination stems from toxic dry cleaning fluids previous owners of Norge Town Cleaners on North Railroad Avenue dumped onto the ground.
The federal government declared the site a Superfund area in 1999, which means it is one of the worst pollution areas in the country.
State Environment Department Superfund Oversight Section geologist Chris Meehan said water samples from area wells taken over the past weeks show the toxins have not spread. Scientists finished testing the aquifer — which is the sole source of water for Española — two weeks ago.
"They show pretty much the same contamination that they had before," said Meehan, who is the project manager for the Norge Town site.
Since the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund money is running low, nobody knows when the estimated $10 million clean-up process will begin. In the past, Meehan said, Superfund sites were automatically cleaned up as soon as EPA scientists created a remediation plan.
This year, however, the government only gave money to the worst of the worst.
"It never used to be a problem up until this year," Meehan said. "For fiscal year 2003 they had 20 sites at the remedial design stage and they had to pick 10 because that's all they had money for. Our site is one of the sites that didn't get picked."
One of the factors the EPA uses to grant funding, Meehan said, is the level of hazard to the community. Two public wells pumping contaminated water were shut down over a decade ago.
"They don't have enough money so they have to pick and choose," Meehan said. "They'll probably pick the sites with really high health risks. Here we don't have anybody drinking the water. There's really not a health risk."
U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-New Mexico, wrote a letter to EPA administrators in mid-November asking the agency to fund the North Railroad Avenue clean-up. Wilson's Washington, D.C. press secretary Joel Hannahs said the congresswoman has yet to see movement on the issue.
The Norge Town site is only a part of widespread groundwater contamination plaguing the Española Valley. In many areas, leaking septic systems have polluted the top slice of groundwater. Naturally occurring fluoride has tainted the lower levels.
To head off a major water shortage, Española officials are planning an almost $20 million water treatment system on the Prince and Carter Ranches that would cleanse San Juan/Chama Project water from the Rio Grande to drinking-water quality. However, the city's San Juan-Chama contract with the Bureau of Reclamation expires in he next 20 years. Officials are attempting to make the lease perpetual.
While Española waits for clean-up funds, Environment Department officials will continue to watch the contaminants.
"We're going to monitor the plume at least once a year and to make sure the plume isn't growing," Meehan said. "Congress just isn't giving EPA enough money. The Superfund has pretty much run out."
