Stringfellow Cleanup Could Cost Up to $812 Million, Report Says

Cleaning up the Stringfellow acid pits could cost $227 million to $812 million and require five decades to centuries to accomplish, according to a report issued by the state Department of Health Services.

The 20-acre dump in Pyrite Canyon was shut down after about 34 million gallons of solvents, metals, acids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides were dumped there from 1956 to 1972.

Chemicals have spread 2 miles underground and contaminated the drinking water in this small western Riverside County community where residents have been using bottled water for several years.

$10.3-Million Study

The Department of Health Services last week released a report on a four-year, $10.3-million study and proposed five cleanup strategies.

“This study has all the information in it that all of us can use to sit down and make a decision and go forward with the cleanup,” said Ted Rauh, Stringfellow project manager for the Department of Health Services.

The 1,800-page report came in 2 1/2 years late and $9 million over budget. Rauh said the complexity of the dump caused the delay. The study examined 86 cleanup methods, and there were six full-scale tests of methods.

One of the five proposals is expected to be selected by the state and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a year.

The cheapest proposal was to let rainfall seep through the dump and dilute the contaminants. The contaminated water would be pumped up and treated. The plan would cost $227 million and take an estimated four centuries to make the site safe.

A $293-million plan would leave the site contaminated but permanently lower the water table to halt movement of pollutants underground.

The most costly proposal would require spending about $812 million to excavate 2.7 million tons of soil and burn it in an incinerator. Cleaning the dump would take 10 years but ground water would not be clean for 63 years.