Tainted well cuts area groundwater level

Scottsdale stands to lose a billion gallons of groundwater each year, enough to supply more than 9,000 homes, a consequence of Motorola dumping water from a well at the heart of two recent drinking water contamination scares.

The loss could jeopardize groundwater supplies in Scottsdale, according to city officials.

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"It's a huge drawdown on Scottsdale's water, to be delivered outside of Scottsdale," said City Councilman Ron McCullagh of the 3 million gallons per day being pumped out of Scottsdale's aquifers.

The water is treated, and then dumped into the Arizona Canal, which supplies water to several Valley cities downstream.

CONTAMINATION SCARES

The well, called PCX-1, pumps and treats groundwater from the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site, a federally listed toxic waste site, wherein groundwater beneath a vast swath of south Scottsdale is contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE - a suspected carcinogen.

Previously, water produced by PCX-1 was pumped and treated by Arizona American Water Co., a private utility serving about 12,000 people in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, and then blended into the company's drinking water supply.

Arizona American treated the water on behalf of Motorola - one of the companies responsible for the pollution.

But the utility disconnected the contaminated well from its system and cut ties with Motorola after it was revealed that high levels of TCE had entered customers' drinking water supply in October, and then again in January. Motorola, though, is still liable for pumping and treating the groundwater, and hired another contractor in April to do the work and release the treated water into the canal.

Paula Thornton-Greear, Motorola spokeswoman, said only that continued operation of the PCX-1 well is critical to cleaning up the groundwater contamination, and that Motorola will continue to work with Scottsdale, SRP and others on the cleanup. Motorola did not comment on whether groundwater conservation was among its priorities.

DRAINING THE BATHTUB

Marshall Brown, the city's acting water resources general manager, said the Valley is like a bathtub when it comes to groundwater, and Scottsdale sits on the edge, where water loss is most apparent. The water from PCX-1 is like a slow leak, he said.

"We have to be very protective of our groundwater supply or our wells could go dry," Brown said. "We believe that (water) needs to stay here locally."

The problem is exacerbated by Arizona American's plans to increase pumping at its Miller Road Treatment facility, at McDonald and Miller roads, to make up for the water supply lost because it disconnected from PCX-1, Brown said.

McCullagh added that the cumulative increase in pumping could draw contaminated water north through the aquifer into Arizona American's well fields, but that Arizona American doesn't really care because they believe Motorola will pick up the additional cleanup costs.

"The corporate conscience, as well as the corporate stewardship, just isn't there," said McCullagh, an Arizona American customer.

RATCHETING UP

Todd Walker, Arizona American spokesman, said the utility plans to bring one existing well up to its full pumping capacity, at which the well operated before the company switched over to PCX-1. The current well is operating at 50 percent to 60 percent capacity, and the company has the authority to return it to full volume, about 3 million gallons a day, he said.

"Because we disconnected PCX-1 from the system, we need to make sure we supplement our supply with what we're currently allowed," Walker said. "There will be no more water used than there was previously."

In fact, Arizona American will be pumping roughly 1.5 million gallons per day less by redrilling the well than it did when it operated PCX-1, he said. The company would need a permit from the city to reconstruct the well, however, Walker said.

He denied that Arizona American is unconcerned with TCE potentially drifting into its well field because of increased pumping.

Brown said the cumulative groundwater loss puts the city's underground reserves at risk.

Scottsdale prefers to supplement its groundwater with surface water supplies during droughts, he said. Groundwater supplies would take years to recharge on their own, so Scottsdale injects as much water into the aquifer as it pumps out.

Increased pumping by Arizona American would siphon off the city's attempts to recharge the aquifer, Brown said.

"It won't catch up to us for a long time," Brown said. "After a number of years or decades, the supplies we would have put in the ground, they would already have pumped out."

A PUBLIC TAKEOVER?

McCullagh has called for the city to look into buying or condemning Arizona American's local system after the two recent drinking water scares. On Tuesday, the City Council will consider paying consulting firm Carrollo Engineers about $312,000 to draft an appraisal of Arizona American's system.

By acquiring the system, Scottsdale could regulate the amount of water pumped from the aquifer, McCullagh said. He said Scottsdale is interested in acting as environmental steward, while Arizona American is more interested in its bottom line.

"This is a critical resource and it needs to be controlled by somebody who is responsible for environmental stewardship and somebody who answers to the locals," McCullagh said.

Brown said if the city condemns Arizona American's system, it would be integrated into the municipal water system, and the water from PCX-1 likely would be treated and blended into the city's water supply. The city already treats and serves drinking water from wells with up to twice the TCE contamination as PCX-1, he said.

"We deal with higher concentrations of TCE everyday than they have ever seen," Brown said.

Walker said Arizona American relies on local groundwater supplies and is conscious of groundwater levels, as well. He charged Scottsdale officials with acting more to advance the city's condemnation of the company's system than out of any true concerns about the environment.

"We're all concerned about groundwater levels," Walker said.

By the numbers ...
3 million — 90 million — 1.1 billion*
Gallons of drinking water a day/month/year treated and dumped into the Arizona Canal
* Dumping started in April. This figure represents amount over the course of a year.

This means ...
9,125 Scottsdale-area homes every year could be served by that wasted water

Source: Scottsdale Water Resources Department, Tribune research