Study on Wyle pollution cleanup in Norco moves forward
The review of the study outlining how the former Wyle Laboratories property in Norco should be cleaned up was completed last week by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control.
The DTSC is expected to approve the study next month.
The next step will be to review and approve the remedial action plan in the spring.
Officials say it should be available for public comment by summer.
Wyle Labs -- on 400-plus acres east of Norco High School -- tested munitions for the federal government in the 1950s and '60s. A plume of the toxic chemical TCE was found in the groundwater and soil around the lab.
The completion of the feasibility study is one of many advances
officials have made this year in the effort to remove the contamination
at Wyle Laboratories, said Rafat Abbasi, the state department's project
manager for the cleanup.
"This is a major stride. Not only have we finished the investigation, 2008 was a major year of accomplishments," Abbasi said.
The department finished the remedial investigation in 2007, and this year worked on developing and completing the final remedial investigation report, the feasibility study as well as the removal action work plan.
The final remedial investigation was finished in August and is a report containing all the investigation work that has gone on at Wyle.
"The key is our team has focused on the end point: the end point being the site cleanup," Abbasi said.
The report breaks up the site into six portions.
Each portion has several recommendations because each has its own complex concentrations, Abbasi said.
In some of the areas, the level of TCE has degraded by "natural processes," he said.
Abbasi said the report recommends unconventional technology in capturing TCE and cleaning it up in the area with the highest concentration on the site.
In that area, they are using a hydraulic containment system that takes out the contaminated water below the ground but does not take it off site.
It is pumped, treated and then put back once it has been cleaned, said DTSC spokeswoman Sandra Friedman.
"We have selected methods and have been testing them for the past year," she said.
liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com
"This is a major stride. Not only have we finished the investigation, 2008 was a major year of accomplishments," Abbasi said.
The department finished the remedial investigation in 2007, and this year worked on developing and completing the final remedial investigation report, the feasibility study as well as the removal action work plan.
The final remedial investigation was finished in August and is a report containing all the investigation work that has gone on at Wyle.
"The key is our team has focused on the end point: the end point being the site cleanup," Abbasi said.
The report breaks up the site into six portions.
Each portion has several recommendations because each has its own complex concentrations, Abbasi said.
In some of the areas, the level of TCE has degraded by "natural processes," he said.
Abbasi said the report recommends unconventional technology in capturing TCE and cleaning it up in the area with the highest concentration on the site.
In that area, they are using a hydraulic containment system that takes out the contaminated water below the ground but does not take it off site.
It is pumped, treated and then put back once it has been cleaned, said DTSC spokeswoman Sandra Friedman.
"We have selected methods and have been testing them for the past year," she said.
liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com
Leave a comment