WATER INDUSTRY NEWS
Chromium-tainted groundwater plume migrating
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Monday, November 08, 2010
HINKLEY, CALIF. — Water quality regulators announced last week that a plume of toxic groundwater in Hinkley, Calif., has continued to spread despite a long-standing order for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to clean up the contamination, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Elevated levels of hexavalent chromium have been detected over the past year in groundwater more than half-mile beyond the previous boundary of contamination in the Mojave Desert town, the article stated.
Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion in cooling towers at a facility southeast of Hinkley.
Some of the chromium-tainted wastewater leaked from ponds and contaminated a 2-mile-long portion of an aquifer, according to the report.
The toxic spill and the subsequent legal action was the subject of the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts.
“The plume is migrating, and this is a violation of the cleanup order,” said Carmela Gonzalez, a Hinkley resident. “It is outrageous that this has been allowed to continue. People are fed up.”
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