Two Downey Water Wells OKd for Use

Contamination levels in water from two city wells have dropped significantly and state health officials have given Downey permission to put them back into operation.

The wells probably will not be used until water demands increase in a couple of months, Public Works Director William A. Ralph said last week. But the development takes some of the sting out of a recently released consultant’s report that says chemical contamination of those wells and two others seriously reduced the city’s ability to meet peak water demands.

The municipal water system serves about 23,000 businesses and households with water it pumps from the ground and buys from the Metropolitan Water District. The city at times has had to increase the relatively small amount it purchases from the MWD to make up for loss of the wells, Ralph said.

Industrial Solvent Found

The four wells were taken out of service in 1987 after tests of water samples revealed excessive amounts of the industrial solvent tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or PCE. The solvent is suspected of causing cancer.

Water Supt. Greg Mayfield said the city will continue to test water from the two wells when they are back in service.

“My recommendation is that we would continue sampling on a monthly basis,” Mayfield said. “From a safety standpoint and to satisfy all of our curiosity, we should continue to sample.”

Well No. 19, on Dolan Avenue south of Firestone Boulevard, was closed after testing revealed PCE levels ranging from 1.8 parts per billion to 7.2 parts per billion.

The state requires a water agency to take action when PCE levels reach 4 parts per billion. If a person were to drink two liters of water containing 4 parts per billion of PCE daily, the increased chance that the person would develop cancer would be less than 1 in 1 million, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services.

Deepest Part Fouled

Water officials found that the most contaminated water was coming from the deepest part of the well--510 feet to 608 feet below the surface, Mayfield said. That part of the well has been closed and any PCE in water now coming from the well is below detectable levels, Mayfield said.

The other well, No. 17, is on Pellet Street west of Old River School Road. PCE levels in water from that well ranged from 1.6 parts per billion to 6.7 parts per billion before the well was closed. Tests performed in December detected only 1.1 parts per billion of PCE, Mayfield said.

“It’s just been sitting since we had to shut it down,” Mayfield said. “It’s either cleared up on its own or the plume (of contamination) has moved away from the well. You really don’t know.”

There are no immediate plans to open another closed well, No. 20, on Adwen Street west of Old River School Road, Mayfield said. The fourth contaminated well, No. 21, is on city property that is part of the Rio Hondo golf course. It was closed and then reopened, but its water is being used only to irrigate the golf course, Ralph said. The city has 23 wells.

The source of contamination has not been pinpointed, Mayfield said.

“It could have entered the basin miles from Downey city limits and flowed down here after all these years,” Mayfield said.

Increase Pumping

Meanwhile, the City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider a water system report by James M. Montgomery Consulting Engineers Inc. The Pasadena-based consulting firm was hired to identify problems with the municipal water system to help the city plan improvements during the next five years.

Montgomery Consulting found that the city needs to increase its pumping capacity to help meet peak demands, which usually occur during the summer.

Currently, the city buys water from the Metropolitan Water District to meet peak needs. But the MWD water, imported from other locations, is more costly and the supply could be limited during drought conditions, the report said. The exact cost of importing water for peak demands during 1988 was not known, but it was less than $16,800, Ralph said.

In 1988, about 13% of the water sold by the city water system came from the MWD, Ralph said.

Cost of Improvements

The consultant recommends that Downey improve existing wells to be able to pump more water and rely less on the MWD. The recommended improvements, which also include work on the city’s distribution system, would cost from $720,000 to $1.2 million a year during the next five years.

The City Council in 1987 raised water rates 25% to generate an additional $800,000 a year for such improvements. The average residential water bill in Downey for a two-month period is $24.96, a low-to-average rate compared to those of other area cities, Mayfield said. The average bill in Lynwood is $40, for example, while residents of South Gate and Lakewood pay $22.60 and $21.08, respectively, he said.

The report recommends that more expensive improvements be delayed until the extent and nature of area ground water contamination is fully known. Those improvements include the construction of a water treatment facility and the drilling of new, deeper wells to tap uncontaminated aquifers.

“The extent of contamination of the ground water basin is presently not known,” the report said.

Downey draws water from a huge underground field of aquifers called the Central Basin, which supplies several Southeast cities. Some of those cities also have been forced to close wells in recent years.

Monthly Tests Made

The consultant warns the city of the potential loss of supply due to contamination and recommends that the city continue to test its wells. The city has tested all its wells for chemical contamination, officials said. The city tests those where contamination was found on a monthly or quarterly basis, Mayfield said.

“The most significant event to affect the city . . . has been the discovery of volatile organic chemicals in the ground water supply . . . ,” the report said. PCE is a volatile organic chemical.

The loss of the contaminated wells and another well, which collapsed, reduced the city’s ability to pump water during times of peak demand by about 20%, the report indicated. The city will recover about a third of that lost capacity when it reopens the two wells, according to figures provided by Mayfield.

The report also told city water officials what they already knew: That there are old, undersized water pipes in some parts of the city, especially south of Imperial Highway, that must be replaced to improve water flow.

Some city water customers experience periods of low water pressure, especially during times of peak demand, because of those inadequate transmission lines, Ralph said.

Firefighters battling a large blaze could exacerbate such a pressure drop, which would create a nuisance for residents and problems for manufacturing firms that depend on a steady flow of water, Ralph said.

Peak Times of Day

“If you have a big fire in August or September during 5 to 7 in the evening or 7 in the morning, you’ve got problems,” Ralph said. “The fire is the most important thing, and you direct the water to that fire.”

The small water mains could also hamper the city’s ability to fight fires, officials said. But so far, firefighters have been able to improvise to avoid major problems, Fire Chief Ron Irwin said.

“We’ve always had enough water to put the fire out,” Irwin said.

The city has been steadily upgrading its water system, which is composed of 17 separate systems Downey acquired over the years, Ralph said.

A major new water transmission line in south Downey is in the planning stage. That new line will help meet increased demands created by the county’s planned light-industrial park at the site of the Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center.

The consultant’s proposed improvements over the next five years would handle only the city’s existing water demands, including the new industrial park, the report said. The city probably would have to make additional improvements if it were to approve new developments that are heavy water users, the report said.

“If we got something that was big and used a lot of water, we’d have to look very closely at it,” Ralph said.