New Documents on OC North Basin Water Contamination

can be read in full by visiting (https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/profile_report.asp?global_id=60002058). 

The Orange County North Basin plume of toxins is located in northern Orange County, California, and includes parts of Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, and Buena Park. The approximately 8-mile-long plume covers 18 square miles and is located northwest of the intersection of the CA-57 and CA-91 Freeways. The site is contaminated by known and unknown industrial sources located in the plume area. The chemicals of concern are predominantly VOCs (volatile organic compounds) – PCE (tetrachloroethylene), TCE (trichloroethylene), 1,1-DCE (1,1-dichloroethylene), and 1,4 Dioxane. Other Analytes of interest: PFAS (Per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances), Perchlorate, TCP (1,2,3 Trichloropropane), and DCA (1,2 Dichloroethane).

OCWD is currently monitoring the plume as part of their North Basin Groundwater Protection Project, which was initiated in 2005 to minimize the spread of VOC contamination and clean up the groundwater in this portion of the basin.
OCWD conducts regular water quality monitoring programs and testing to comply with permits and drinking water regulations. The agency collects water elevation and water quality data from nearly 700 wells, including over 400 OCWD-owned monitoring wells.  This groundwater monitoring program resulted in the discovery of the VOC plume. The focus of the OCNB project is to help remediate the groundwater plume before it reaches the drinking water aquifer, which serves 2.5 million people countywide. Fullerton’s current representative on the OCWD board is (recently termed out) Councilmember Bruce Whitaker.

The cleanup of the plume is under the direction of the CA Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board,  and the US Environmental Protection Agency.  The plume area was declared a USEPA Superfund National Priorities List site on September 3, 2020. The NPL includes the nation’s most toxic hazardous waste sites. Sites included on the list are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup. This is Fullerton’s second Superfund site – the first being the McColl Dump Site -involving sumps created by local oil company dumping.

Before achieving Superfund listing, a Settlement Agreement signed on October 14, 2016, with the USEPA required the OCWD to conduct an interim Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for groundwater under EPA oversight. The OCWD placed monitoring wells in key areas and treatment wells in Fullerton, and the EPA installed 24 monitoring wells in 8 locations to find the depth and spread of the plume.  OCWD’s obligations under the settlement with the EPA ended in November 2024 with completion of the RI/FS.

POSSIBLE SOURCES OF VOC CONTAMINANTS 

OCWD filed a lawsuit in 2004 against several of the main VOC polluters to protect ratepayers and force polluters to pay cleanup costs. The case against most of the businesses was dismissed in 2017 – leaving Northrop Grumman, the only remaining defendant. Northrop settled five days before the case was finally set to go to trial on August 15, 2022. Details of the settlement were not released. Federal Superfund cleanup actions in the future may include litigation for reimbursement from some of the suspect companies that didn’t settle. 

(shown below are businesses under further investigation, monitoring, or remediation or have been certified complete: 

PFAS

In addition to the VOCs endangering our water supply, PFAS contaminants also affected over 100 wells within OCWD jurisdiction.  OCWD  installed the first PFAS Extraction Plant in Orange County in April 2021 at the former Kimberly Clark site in Fullerton (https://fullertonobserver.com/2021/04/23/pfas-extraction-plant-installed-at-former-kimberly-clark-site/). Two additional extraction systems designed for Fullerton’s Main Plant remove both PFAS and VOCs (https://fullertonobserver.com/2021/08/05/pfas-extraction-plant-makes-history/).

OCWD, with the City of Fullerton and other OC cities as co-defendants, filed a lawsuit in OC Superior Court in December 2020 to protect the water supply and recover cleanup costs against 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, and DECRA Roofing for the manufacture and sale of PFAS,  (OCWD v. 3M Company Superior Court Case No.: 30-2020-01172419-CU-PL-CXC) – (the case was moved to federal court in 2023).

THE CITY OF FULLERTON operates a drinking water system that consists of 11 active wells serving approximately 138,251 people. The City obtains its drinking water from groundwater from the OC Groundwater Basin and from surface water imported by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The City is separated into three areas. Area 1 receives primarily groundwater; Area 2 receives a mixture of groundwater and imported water; and Area 3 receives primarily imported water.

Based on groundwater monitoring data in 2015, OCWD concluded that VOCs are migrating from the Shallow Aquifer into the Principal aquifer, which is used for drinking water. Five drinking water wells within the footprint of the existing plume were destroyed because of contamination (four in Fullerton, and one in Anaheim). All 11 groundwater wells operated by the City are within 4 miles of contaminated Principal aquifer monitoring wells within the plume. PCE, TCE, and/or 1,1-DCE have been detected in eight active City of Fullerton wells (Well Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Sunclipse No. 10, Airport Well No. 9, and Kimberly No. 2). City of Fullerton wells Kimberly No. 1 and Fire Station No. 13 were destroyed in 2002 after elevated concentrations of PCE were detected.

NEW DOCUMENTS

North Basin Interim Remedy RI/FS Monthly Project Status Report 

September 2024 Project: 

EPA Project Manager: North Basin Interim Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study Amanda Cruz 

OCWD Project Manager: Dave Mark 

AECOM Project Manager: Joan Siegal 

Summary of Ongoing and Completed Work (November 2024) 

Task 1.5 – Reporting to EPA 

Submitted a Project Status Report for October 2024. 

Task 3.12 – Interim Remedy FS Report (IFS) 

• Based on input from EPA Headquarters, EPA Region 9 staff determined the IFS needs to be revised by: 1) removing the monitored natural attenuation alternative (Alternative 2), and 2) making the four options for treatment and beneficial use of the treated water under Alternative 3 into separate stand-alone alternatives. EPA recognized that OCWD followed their direction in preparing the previous versions of the IFS.

Consequently, rather than have OCWD revise the IFS and incur the cost of doing so, EPA will revise the IFS and issue the final IFS. 

Planned Activities: 

OCWD has completed its obligations under the Administrative Settlement Agreement with EPA for the North Basin Interim Remedy RI/FS. OCWD will not be preparing additional documents for the Interim Remedy RI/FS. Consequently, this will be the final Monthly Progress Status Report prepared by OCWD. 

OCWD will be closing cost reimbursement agreements with the RWQCB and DTSC. 

As requested, OCWD will continue to provide technical support to EPA, RWQCB and DTSC on the project. Also, OCWD will continue its involvement as a key stakeholder in the remediation of the North Basin VOC plume and the protection of groundwater resources that make up 85 percent of the local potable water supply. 

Schedule 

EPA estimates completion of the final IFS in approximately 6 months. 

https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/profile_report.asp?global_id=600020582020. 

MORE INFORMATION

For those interested, the next OCWD Board meeting will be held December 18 at 5:30 pm in the OCWD Boardroom, 18700 Ward Street, Fountain Valley, CA 927708

For more information on PFAS visit:

https://www.ewg.org/research/more-40m-could-lose-pfas-drinking-water-protections

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/3ms-10-billion-pfas-deal-approved-by-court-as-rule-looms

https://www.ocwd.com/what-we-do/water-quality/pfas/

Also, see the Physicians for Social Responsibility report below

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