Dump Contamination Worse Than Feared : Health: Ground water toxins are found twice as deep as expected. Meanwhile, money for cleanup is running out.

State health officials announced Wednesday that ground water contamination at the Chatham Brothers Barrel Yard, a toxic waste dump in rural Escondido, reaches more than twice as deep as previously believed.

The finding comes as cleanup money rapidly declines, putting completion of the project in jeopardy.

Allan Hirsch, spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said the same amount of toxic contamination was found in wells drilled to 50 feet as in those at 25 feet.

“The contamination had extended deeper than we thought. We had expected to see a drop-off in contamination from 25 feet, and we didn’t,” Hirsch said.

“Based on what we had known about the site--everything from the geological condition to the type of soil conditions--it was just the professional judgment of our staff that we would see a drop-off in contamination.”

The contamination includes various solvents and volatile organic chemicals. Toxins found at the 50-foot level registered as high as 70,000 times the standard considered healthful for ground water, said Julia Bussey, superintendent for the Chatham Brothers cleanup project. Despite the high levels of contamination at the unexpected depths, Bussey said there was no threat to drinking water sources. Lake Hodges, which provides Escondido residents with water, is approximately 2 miles from the site.

“We don’t believe that it is a serious threat, but we are doing more tests,” Bussey said. “The contaminants are not moving very quickly as far as we can tell. It would take many years before it reached any drinking water sources.”

Hirsch said plans are in the works to drill down to 100 feet to continue testing.

The further testing will sap what money is left for research and planning for the eventual cleanup. The state has already spent $4.5 million on the cleanup since 1985, when studies on the extent of the contamination began.

“We’re basically using the remaining state money allocation for this site for the ground water tests,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch said the state has compiled a list of 179 companies that used the area, and that the state will attempt to have those firms pay the cost of the cleanup.

Health service officials said they have received responses from 25 companies so far that have admitted to using the site. Those companies have also supplied detailed information as to what chemicals may have been dumped. Health service officials expect to have responses from the remaining companies by the middle of April.

After the ground water studies are completed, which could take several months, feasibility studies on how to deal with the contamination must be undertaken and a cleanup plan developed, Hirsch said.

The cleanup plan was to have been drawn up by the middle of this year, but now that date is uncertain, Hirsch said. Health service officials now say that a feasibility study will not be completed until at least the end of July.

The announcement of deeper contamination comes 11 months after the completion of the first phase of cleanup that removed 11,000 tons of contaminated soil from the former dump.

The Chatham family bought the 30-acre site at Gamble Lane and Bernardo Avenue in 1941, and began operating a bulk petroleum distribution and oil recovery processing plant there. In 1948, a still was added to reclaim kerosene and hydraulic oil. Solvent reclamation at the site started in 1965.

The dumping of hazardous wastes continued until the late 1970s, and the property was sold in 1981 to a housing developer. The construction firm declared bankruptcy a year later, and the land reverted back to Robert and Thomas Chatham.