West Valley Water District allowed to remove perchlorate from drinking water

First in the country project is approved by state water board 

The board of directors and staff of West Valley Water District (WVWD) have announced the approval from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Division of Drinking Water permitting the operation of a Groundwater Wellhead Treatment System to remove perchlorate, nitrate and trichloroethylene from two WVWD drinking water wells.

The SWRCB Division of Drinking Water has authorized WVWD to use a natural bioremediation process to remove perchlorate from drinking water supplies. The bioremediation process is a new, first-in-the-nation groundbreaking and cost effective technology.

Dr. Clifford O. Young, Sr., president of the WVWD board of directors hailed the new process and opportunity saying, “We are thrilled to be at the forefront of new technologies and treatments, bringing innovation to better serve our customers and deliver clean drinking water to our community.”

Perchlorate has been present in the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Basin and the city of Rialto and the WVWD shut down the affected wells.  Specialized water treatment facilities were constructed to treat water from some of those wells.

However, because perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and a man-made chemical – used in rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives attributed to past military and manufacturing operations in the area – treatment using the facilities WVWD constructed becomes increasingly expensive as higher contamination sources are treated and, consequently, the treatment is not cost-effective.

WVWD will begin using the new bioremediation process this summer which will remove perchlorate from two local drinking wells. The district serves Bloomington, Colton, Fontana, Rialto and parts of an unincorporated area in San Bernardino and a segment of the Jurupa Valley in Riverside County.

Bioremediation uses microscopic organisms already present in groundwater to consume harmful chemicals; this natural process does not use any harmful chemicals. In order to ensure the water will meet state and federal drinking water standards for the community, the water is subsequently sent through traditional water treatment processes before it enters the drinking water system. This ensures the water is clean and safe while lowering the cost of treatment and producing little to no waste.

“This state-of-the-art facility helps address a long-standing community concern over perchlorate contamination in our local wells. With this approval, we can reopen two closed wells and boost our supply of water as the state seeks to recover from the drought,” stated Linda Gonzalez, Vice President of the Board of Directors, “Our community will be forever grateful to the late Senator Nell Soto for being a champion on this issue, fighting to bring clean water to our community.”