From the September 1, 2005 issue of the SUN
By Nick Wilkinson
SUN Staff Writer
With all the drilling rigs springing up in Española — on the plaza and around Norge Town Laundry on Railroad Avenue — it feels like they're taking over the city.
Get used to it.
The wells are just the beginning of a 30-year federal Superfund project to clean up contaminated groundwater beneath the south side of Española.
The state Environment Department will have 99 wells drilled, and two small water-treatment facilities installed and operating by 2007. The massive operation is targeting two dangerous chemicals in Española's groundwater — tetrachloroethene (PCE) and its byproduct, trichloroethene (TCE). Both have been linked to cancer, nervous system disorders, birth defects and kidney problems.
The 99 wells new wells will be in addition to the 54 monitoring wells that were installed in 1998 to study the extent of the contamination.
The problem started when a previous laundromat owner dumped dry-cleaning chemicals into a concrete bunker behind the Norgetown Laundry building on North Railroad Avenue. The chemicals leaked into the aquifer, and the city was eventually forced to permanently shut down its productive Jemez and Bond wells in 1989.
It is unknown exactly how many years Española residents drank PCE-contaminated water but the bunker has been there since at least the 1960s, Jetter said. A study of the impact on public health has never been conducted.
Since 1999, a three-quarter-mile underground column of PCE and TCE has been listed as a federal Superfund site, a designation reserved for the worst toxic spills in the nation.
The column stretches from North Railroad Avenue toward the Rio Grande, crosses Santa Clara land, extends to a depth of 260 feet below the ground and affects 280 million gallons of water.
"The column extends toward the Rio Grande but whether it's still migrating is up in the air," state Environment Depart Project Manager Steve Jetter said.
Española and Santa Clara both have drinking water wells in the path of the column that could be contaminated if no action is taken, according to the EPA.
However, the clean-up program will create a "curtain" to prevent the spread of contamination.
If you drive along the Santa Clara Bridge road toward Riverside Drive, on the left side you can see the pink flag markers on sticks marking the sites of future wells. Also, pink spray paint marks areas for other curtain wells on Imagic and La Cocina property.
"The curtain will cut off the column to stop migration toward the Rio Grande and Santa Clara," Jetter said.
So far, the Rio Grande hasn't shown any signs of PCE or TCE contamination. The area where the curtain will go in has shown PCE contamination of less than 20 micrograms per liter and TCE in the range of 20-50 micrograms per liter.
Drinking water standards for PCE and TCE are five micrograms per liter.tt compared the situation in Española to a patient waiting in a doctor's office: the problem isn't solved, but it will be soon.
Were the entire city of Española to get a doctor's visit to check for effects from the plume, the physician would look for respiratory problems, birth defects, underweight babies, cancer and nervous-system disorders.
However, since the plume infected water at least ten years before anyone knew there was a problem, it's nearly impossible to tell how many people became sick from the toxic waste.
"The most we can say is that there is an increased risk," Robert Knowles, of ASTDR, said earlier this year. "We don't have the data to say 'yes.' But exposure may or may not have played a role (in making people sick.)"
A plan for cleaning the Plume is ready to go. It involves a series of deep ditches to catch and filter the plume through other chemicals, and it involves "flushing" the aquifer with other chemicals to clean out the toxic waste. According to the EPA website, they have spent about $2 million on the site so far, for planning and holding meetings.
Regardless, Española will have to wait at least one year to learn whether the North Railroad Avenue Plume will be cleaned up.
Williams said the EPA will take additional samples along Rio Grande over the next few months to make sure the chemicals from the plume do not reach the river.
