City pollution data questioned

BARSTOW - The city may not be accurately monitoring and reporting levels of pollutants in area groundwater, according to an environmental firm.

A report submitted to the city by DPRA, who investigated the current sampling regiment in the area as part of an agreement between the City of Barstow and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, recommended that the city and Aquarion, the contractor who manages the waste water treatment plant in Barstow, end a relationship with RGS, the environmental consulting firm performing groundwater sampling for nitrates in the Soap Mine Road neighborhood.

"The validity of the data collected has put Aquarion and the City of Barstow in a perilous situation with various state agencies," the report states.

Since March 2003, RGS has sampled groundwater in the area to check nitrate levels. After reviewing the data, DPRA questioned at least a dozen reports that have duplicate or near-duplicate results across several testing sites and numerous inconsistencies in the data. A total of 17 monthly monitoring reports from March 2003 to January 2007 were found to have questionable laboratory results, according to the report. DPRA marked every monitoring report from June 2005 to January 2007 as questionable.

Further, DPRA found that wells were not being sampled properly or sometimes at all.

"DPRA does not believe that every well was purged and sampled. It is likely that only a couple wells may have been sampled properly, with the remaining sample containers simply filled with water from these wells," the report states.

Doug Smith, a senior engineering geologist with the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board in Lake Tahoe, said the suspect data could change the reported nitrate levels in the Soap Mine area. Currently, Smith said, there are elevated levels of nitrates about the drinking water standard of 10 milligrams per liter. Readings as high as 32 milligrams per liter have been recorded on the north side of the Mojave River and 22 mg/L on the south side, he said.

"Data that is collected needs to be true and accurate," Smith said. "If all the data is suspect, then it brings into question the meaning of those results. Is it accurate? Is it higher? Is it lower?"

Smith said Lahontan is currently evaluating the claims made by DPRA.

According to a California Department of Health Services Web site, nitrates can interfere with the carrying of oxygen to tissues in the body. The site stated it is of greatest concern to infants and pregnant women.

Christina Bryne, a Soap Mine Road resident who has worked to raise concerns about the elevated levels of nitrates as part of the community's objection to a proposed housing complex in the area, thinks the questionable data should be of concern to the city as well. She said city employees had to sign off on the data.

"There's a whole bunch of people who are going to be in a lot of trouble," she said.

The city hired DPRA to investigate the findings in order to meet a Lahontan requirement, John Rader, spokesman for the city, said. He said the reports in question were provided to the city by a subcontractor to Aquarion

"We are currently evaluating the complete report in cooperation with Lahontan and Aquarion. One of the concerns cited in the report is the accuracy of the ground water reports provided to the city from this subcontractor over the last quarter," he responded via e-mail. "We are working diligently with Aquarion ensure the ground water testing processes are providing both the city and Lahontan with accurate information."

In 2004, Lahontan ordered the city to stop dumping waste from the waste water treatment plant on fields in the Soap Mine area and at other sites in Barstow. Lahontan determined that the sewage system was contributing to nitrate pollution in the Mojave River. The city agreed to work on a plan to reduce groundwater pollution in Barstow by 2009.

Christopher Krall, the principle engineering geologist at RGS, declined to comment on the data called into question. He said the data was prepared for Aquarion and is owned by Aquarion. A representative from Aquarion could not be reached for comment.