A former fireworks company has emerged as the potential source of a chemical that last month contaminated public water supplies in the Barstow area, making tap water undrinkable there for as many 40,000 people for several days, say state water quality control officials.
The Mojave River Pyrotechnics Co. closed its doors in Barstow in the mid-1980s, but records kept by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that it had received shipments of perchlorate, an explosive salt used to make fireworks, ammunition and solid-state rocket fuels, say state officials.
The company had operated near a drinking-water well in north Barstow that last month was found to be producing water with 100 parts per billion of perchlorate -- more than 16 times the allowable limit for drinking water. And tap water at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, just east of Barstow, was found to have perchlorate at more than three times the legal limit of 6 parts per billion.
These discoveries prompted Golden State Water Co. to close the well and issue a "no drinking order," forcing Barstow area residents to rely on bottled water, while the company worked around the clock, flushing perchlorate-tainted water out of the system's network of pipes.
The area is now using water drawn from other wells. The company provides the Barstow area with its water.
Harold Singer, executive officer of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, said this week that the EPA is assisting with the state investigation of the source of the perchlorate. He emphasized that Mojave River Pyrotechnics is now suspected only because EPA records indicate it had used the chemical.
"Completing the investigation may take months," he said.
So far Lahontan officials have tested 26 privately owned wells and found two with levels above the legal limits in an area north of the town's center and above the Mojave River, Singer said.
Further work will likely include drilling test wells to help pinpoint the source, he said.
During the "do not drink" order, city and company officials set up bottled-water distribution centers and established a hot line to report shut-ins and others who might not have been able to get safe water. Police delivered bottled water to those in need.
In addition, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors also proclaimed a local emergency, making the county eligible for reimbursement of three-fourths of the cost of helping Barstow with logistical support, restaurant inspections and ferrying water samples to a laboratory in Orange County.
In sufficient concentrations, perchlorate is known to disrupt the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide, which is needed to make the hormones that guide brain and nerve development of fetuses and babies. It also can be harmful to people with iodine deficiencies.
California has regulated the chemical's quantities in drinking water since 2007.
Reach David Danelski at 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@PE.com
