Old lot among many toxic sites

By Koren Temple

Hundreds of students pass by an oddly shaped vacant lot just a stone's throw from Stuft Pizza and the Safeway parking lot every week. The address is 2655 The Alameda, but there's no address marker -- just a ramshackle fence, a collection of rusting steel drums and some strange pipes inserted into the grass.

It was the site of a gas station until 1993. Now it's one of dozens of local sites where cleanup efforts are underway to remove thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals that leaked into the ground, according to county environmental quality reports.

Health officials say there is little threat to the public, saying there is little chance of toxins ending up in our drinking water. But the report for the site, which is across from the university's art building, details how fuel tanks leaked large amounts of gasoline and chemicals into the ground, many of which the federal government recognizes as cancer-causing agents if ingested.

That site, reports stated, was a gas station, and is currently owned by Chevron Corporation, which did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment for this story.

Another former gas station, now a parking lot at 3290 The Alameda (across the street from a 7-Eleven), is owned by the university. University officials said in the site's report, that they, in compliance with Santa Clara Valley Water District, want to ensure the current underground storage tanks be properly located and removed.

"The site has been cleared. The university takes the safety and health of its community very serious and is confident there is no threat to anybody's water source," Facilities Director Jeffery Charles said in a written statement Wednesday afternoon.

Remedial efforts for the Chevron site were taken from 1995 to 1998, and during that period, the groundwater extraction system alone removed 924,481 gallons of groundwater that contained about 227 pounds of gasoline, 28 pounds of diesel and 46 pounds of benzene, reports show.

"It has not been shown to be a threat to our drinking water, and from what we know, there has been no contamination," said Mamerto Jorvina, a hazardous material specialist with the county's Environmental Health Department. "The more serious fuel leaks happened years ago, and were cleaned up."

The reports, however, don't give specific numbers on how much underground water could have been contaminated. They do show a low risk for contamination, because the closest water supply well is located 800 feet north of the test site.

In 1994, the three 8,000 to 10,000 gallon storage tanks were removed for cleanup efforts. Samples collected from those wells in 1991 showed that chemicals such as benzene, diesel and non-volatile hydrocarbons were exposed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services classifies benzene as a carcinogen, which can cause leukemia. Benzene and other hydrocarbons exposed in groundwater were the main threats at this site. There have been no reports of public ingestion of these chemicals.

Officials also say that dangers to water contamination are only present if toxins reach wells underground, which are drilled deeper than where gasoline storage tanks typically lay.

"Students shouldn't be concerned about it though because generally water wells are drilled to depths to greater than 100 feet," said Lani Lee, another hazardous material specialist with the county. "This release is old, so if it was going to go somewhere, it probably would have gotten there by now."

County environmental health officials say that the site's cleanup involves pumping ozone into the ground, which causes microorganisms to aid in decontaminating the site.

Fencing has since been erected around the property, blocking it off from the public.

Leaks 'very common'

According to the City of Santa Clara 2005 Consumer Confidence report, the city's water is tested for over 100 potential contaminants and 48 parameters each year. A majority of the potential contaminants were not detected.

The report does say that drinking water, including bottled water, "may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants."

The reports say that the general public is at very low risk to these contaminants, and cites no cases of people getting sick.

"These types of releases are very common. Back in the 1980s, almost all gas stations had some type of release," said Lee.

On The Alameda, there have been 20 oversight cleanups, with five cleanups currently underway, reports show. During the 1990s, Santa Clara also had four minor leaks, none of which harmed students.

But there is no telling how long cleanup efforts will take for the Chevron site, officials said, despite the 15-year remediation.

"Unfortunately, it's not exact science," Lee said. "This is not uncommon for it to take so long. It could be that back in the 1990s, there was no one reviewing the case, and depending on how severe (the leak is), it can take years and decades for a cleanup to be completed."

Unocal Corporation was the original owner of the site and was in charge of the cleanups. In April 2005, after years of negotiations, Unocal merged with Chevron, and the $128,036 site transferred owners. Since then, monitoring efforts have continued, with the next sampling report to be released this month.

Information on what the property will be used for after its cleanup efforts have finished has not been made available to The Santa Clara by Chevron.

Lee said the county only ensures that property owners are involved in remediation. Companies that fail to do cleanup can be charged penalties of up to $5,000 per tank per day. Unocal was not charged because they pursued active remediation.