TCE Contamination From Leaking Well Will Cost Scottsdale AZ 1 Billion Gallons/Yr In Groundwater

Scottsdale stands to lose a billion gallons of groundwater each year, enough to supply more than 9,000 homes, a consequence of Motorola dumping water from a well at the heart of two recent drinking water contamination scares. The loss could jeopardize groundwater supplies in Scottsdale, according to city officials.

"It's a huge drawdown on Scottsdale's water, to be delivered outside of Scottsdale," said City Councilman Ron McCullagh of the 3 million gallons per day being pumped out of Scottsdale's aquifers. The water is treated, and then dumped into the Arizona Canal, which supplies water to several Valley cities downstream.

CONTAMINATION SCARES

The well, called PCX-1, pumps and treats groundwater from the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site, a federally listed toxic waste site, wherein groundwater beneath a vast swath of south Scottsdale is contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE - a suspected carcinogen. Previously, water produced by PCX-1 was pumped and treated by Arizona American Water Co., a private utility serving about 12,000 people in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, and then blended into the company's drinking water supply.

Arizona American treated the water on behalf of Motorola - one of the companies responsible for the pollution. But the utility disconnected the contaminated well from its system and cut ties with Motorola after it was revealed that high levels of TCE had entered customers' drinking water supply in October, and then again in January. Motorola, though, is still liable for pumping and treating the groundwater, and hired another contractor in April to do the work and release the treated water into the canal.

EDIT

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/119607

Good times. :popcorn: