National City Firm Told to Clean Up Part of Bay

A National City business has been ordered to clean up part of San Diego Bay after it was determined that copper levels in the water around the firm could harm marine life.

Paco Terminals Inc., at the 24th Street Marine Terminal, was given the order by the Regional Water Quality Control Board on Nov. 13. The board, which enforces state and federal water laws in the San Diego area, expects the cleanup to be completed in January, 1989.

Paco is scheduled to submit a report to the board on Feb. 4 establishing a time schedule for the phases of the cleanup.

The copper-transporting firm, which ships about 140,000 tons of the ore yearly, will have to spend a minimum of $472,922 if it chooses the likely, least expensive option of dredging the affected portion of San Diego Bay, said David Barker, senior water board engineer.

Started Covering Piles in ’84

The polluted sediment would then be dumped in the ocean in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, Barker said.

“Wind, rain or spillage,” Barker said, may be responsible for unacceptable copper levels in the water there. Paco, which began its National City operation in 1979, started covering the piles of copper to be shipped in 1984 in an effort to guard against further discharges.

To comply with the board’s orders, Paco’s initial cleanup goal is to reduce copper levels from an average maximum of 30,000 milligrams down to 1,000 milligrams per kilogram of sediment. The company has been cooperative ever since preliminary studies conducted in 1984 pointed to it as being the source of the contamination, Barker said.

“They don’t have to clean it up, at this time, to the original copper contamination levels of 110 milligrams per kilogram of sediment,” Barker said. Instead, Paco must reduce the pollution to a level that does not adversely affect the quality of water in San Diego Bay.

“Paco believes that the Regional Water Quality Control Board has been very thorough and is doing a good job in handling the Paco cleaning addendum,” said the firm’s general manager, Glenn M. Howell, in a written statement after last week’s order.

Barker said that evidence submitted thus far indicates that the degree of copper contamination poses no threat to human life and could affect marine life only if it was allowed to continue unchecked.

However, earlier reports by environmental health officials said the copper levels were sufficient to kill marine life and that they were among the highest levels known in California waters. In the first six years of Paco’s operation, the level of contamination increased thirteenfold, a report said.