The State - News from March 19, 1989

An offer by IBM Corp. to pump millions of gallons of water with low levels of industrial solvents to Santa Clara Valley households has been met with skepticism by environmentalists and water district officials. IBM says the treated water from its South San Jose property, now being dumped, contains low levels of chemical solvents but is well within the state limits for drinking water supplies. Under the proposal, IBM would pump from 600 to 1,300 acre feet a year into the Snell Pipeline, which carries water for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “I am not comfortable with the citizens of Santa Clara County drinking that water,” said Joe Judge, chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. But Steve Morse of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board said, “As far as we can see, there’s little or no health risks.”