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SALT LAKE CITY — Residents first raised concerns about water contamination right after the Chevron oil spill two years ago, but the problem turned out to be something completely different: A chemical called PCE.
While no drinking water is involved, but local springs near East High School are contaminated with Perchloroethene, usually called PCE, which is often associated with dry cleaning.
Many of the residents here don't need to water their lawns and gardens, because the ground is usually soaked with spring water. Ryan Hoglund has spent $20,000 excavating his yard in an attempt to drain the spring water away at a rate of about about 10 gallons every minute. He was not happy to learn almost two years ago, the water has PCE in it, which he fears are evaporating into his home.
"I worry about the young ones in the house and, obviously, the wife and myself, my own health," Hoglund said.
New studies by the state and the federal EPA confirm the contamination. The chemical constituents strongly suggest that known groundwater contamination near the Veterans Administration hospital has spread way down the hill in recent years, below East High school.
Residents first started raising concerns about water contamination right after the Chevron oil spill two years ago, but the problem turned out to be something completely different: A chemical called PCE."Right now, the indications of these preliminary studies are that it's all the same plume and probably originated from that same source," Jeff Niermeyer with Salt Lake City Public Utilities.
The likeliest source is thought to be an old dry cleaning facility at the VA hospital that was closed down in the 1980s.
"This is not our drinking water that we're talking about here, so this is a groundwater source and it's not used in our drinking water," Niermeyer said.
Nevertheless, residents worry about pets that might drink the water, and about fruits and vegetables they grow in their own yards.
"The garden I grow sits on top of contaminated soils," said Demian Hanks. "Soil that's soaked with water that's contaminated. And that's the worry that we have."
"I guess my larger concern is that folks say that they're going to take care of it. But that we never hear anything," Hoglund said.
Hanks worried that "we don't have any information about how it's ever going to get fixed."
On that point, the future looks like it may hold more frustration. Federal procedures spell out a process that could take years, possibly many years, to determine if there's any serious risk, and to decide what, if anything, needs to be done about it.
