FILLMORE : Wells to Monitor Pollution at School

Monitoring wells will be drilled at San Cayetano Elementary School in Fillmore so experts can assess the spread of ground-water pollutants from a nearby Texaco refinery that closed in 1950, a federal official said.

Wells drilled outside the school grounds in July showed that “some contaminants have migrated with the ground water,” said Michael Montgomery, project manager with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program.

“This doesn’t mean the schoolyard is contaminated,” Montgomery said. Samples of surface soil do not pose a health threat, he said, and the ground water is 80 to 100 feet below the surface.

Montgomery said drilling on the schoolyard will be done on weekends in November. Since the wells will be flush with the ground, they should not affect school activities.

Although wells supplying Fillmore’s municipal water system are more than two miles from the site, the former refinery was assigned to the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities list in 1988. In initial reports, officials said on-site disposal of oil wastes, a common industry practice until 1950, left residues of benzene, xylene, lead and chromium in soil and ground water at the refinery east of Pole Creek. Texaco is funding the current study.

Montgomery said Texaco is expected to file a complete report on soil and water testing by Jan. 15. He estimated that analysis of data and possible cleanup strategies would take about six months.