KEARNS — Some dirty water is on the move.
A plume of contaminated groundwater generated on Alliant Techsystems property has slowly crept closer to two culinary wells in the Kearns Improvement District, and officials there are now asking for more frequent tests from the company's own monitoring wells.
Kearns Improvement District engineer Paul Zimmerman has requested to have Alliant's monitoring frequency increased from yearly to quarterly. So far, no wells in Kearns have shown contamination.
"We are maintaining a very close and open dialogue with the Kearns Improvement District," said Alliant spokesman Dave Nicponski. "That's a request we're taking a serious look at."
One of the main contaminants of concern is perchlorate, a chemical linked to thyroid problems, which is not yet regulated by the state or federal government. While researchers determine how much perchlorate is acceptable in drinking water, places such as Kennecott, Magna — where contamination has been found — and now Kearns have taken precautionary measures.
A groundwater plume containing perchlorate and other contaminants from chlorinated solvents has been on the move for years, following a natural grade toward the Great Salt Lake.
The roughly 2.5-mile-long, 1-mile-wide plume originated in an area bordered by U-111 to 6400 West and 4100 South to about 5400 South, according to Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste environmental scientist Bill Wallner. Rocket manufacturer Alliant operates within those boundaries.
Perchlorate, which comes from ammonium perchlorate, is manufactured as an oxygen-adding component in solid fuel propellant for rockets, missiles and fireworks. Large volumes of the compound, the Environmental Protection Agency says, have been disposed of since the 1950s in Nevada, California, Utah and other states.
In 1998, the testing of at least 80 private wells in the area of Alliant's plume showed no contamination, and no one has complained since, Wallner said.
The EPA is awaiting toxicology results before the federal government stands firm on its own recommendation of an acceptable perchlorate level of 32 parts per billion. Past levels found in Kennecott wells were at 12 and 13 ppb and around 5 ppb in one of Magna's wells.
On its own property, Alliant has some 85 monitoring wells, from which samples are drawn and test results are forwarded to the state. So far, Wallner said, only perchlorate levels below a provisional standard set in California of 18 parts per billion have been found.
Meantime, Alliant has no plans to add extraction wells or a treatment method to the monitoring process.
"It's a hot topic," said Christopher Weiss, senior EPA toxicologist.
In high-enough concentrations, Weiss said, perchlorate can cause sores in the mouth and become corrosive to the mucous membrane in the gastrointestinal tract. At this time, he added, the EPA is erring on the side of public health protection. It's still uncertain whether the current 32 ppb level may go up or down.
When the subject of contamination cropped up in California and Nevada, Alliant took the lead on testing soil and groundwater and began notifying surrounding agencies, said Susan Jew, Alliant's manager of environmental compliance.
"This has been a very open and participatory process," she said.
The waste contaminating groundwater today was created after 1967 and its release into groundwater began occurring before 1988. The EPA calls perchlorate "exceedingly mobile in aqueous systems."
Currently the state does not have regulations on perchlorate levels in drinking water. Utah's Division of Drinking Water expects that to change.
"Within the next year or so, we anticipate that it will be a new contaminant for drinking water to be concerned about, and we'll start regulating at that point," said Director Kevin Brown. The state is concerned about the direction the plume is traveling. Depending upon its path off site, officials may need to direct future drilling of wells. Because Utah has no perchlorate standard, however, there is no enforceable action the state can take.
"We feel there is a likelihood if nothing changes . . . there is a potential that it could contaminate one or possibly two of our wells," said the Kearns Improvement District's Zimmerman. Alliant has been forthright in supplying information on the plume, he added.
Though levels were relatively low, Kennecott posted a "drinking water bulletin" in 1997, advising employees to drink bottled water already being provided, spokesman Louie Cononelos said. Those bulletins have since been taken down.
Magna Water Improvement District Manager Ed Hansen has been working with Alliant since 1997 and has been meeting regularly with a perchlorate steering committee, made up of local, state and federal agencies.
Until toxicology and epidemiology studies are complete, Hansen said the Magna District is erring on the side of caution, keeping a main well used during peak demand periods shut down because of low levels of perchlorate in the water. That well is located at about 6750 West and 2700 South.
Jew said Alliant has offered financial support for Magna should contamination one day require that its water needs further treatment.
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