Visalia officials are livid over the release of 540,000 gallons of water into a street gutter last week by California Water Service and two governmental agencies.

That’s enough water to flood a football field in about 2 feet of water, or supply an average family for at least two years.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control and the U.S. Geological Survey were looking for the source of chemical contamination in a well in southwest Visalia when they OK’d dumping the water.

City officials say they weren’t notified about the plan, and such a large quantity of water flooding the streets offends public sensibilities in a period of severe drought.

“We’ve got wells going dry in two subdivisions,” said Mayor Steve Nelsen. “We’re asking our citizens to conserve, conserve, conserve.”

He said he found it annoying that the governor would ask for a 20% reduction in water consumption statewide in the drought, yet a state agency would toss water into a gutter without saying anything.

The city also takes a dim view of pushing that much water into the city’s storm drain system without seeking permission.

“We’re bothered by state and federal agencies coming in our community and doing things that possibly cause health and safety concerns,” Visalia City Manager Mike Olmos said.

Olmos said California Water Service did ask some city employees for permission to put water into the city’s sewer system and were denied.

“There was not an effective notification to the city” that a large quantity of water was going to be put into the street gutters instead, he said.

But California Water Service supervisor Steve Johnson in Visalia said he obtained verbal permission to put the water into the storm drains.

The pumping took place Wednesday through Friday last week at a Cal Water well on Whitendale Avenue west of Mooney Boulevard. Cal Water supplies most homes and businesses in Visalia.

“We had several irritated folks” express dismay, Johnson said. Typical comments included “What are you guys doing? We’re in a drought.”

Most of the water will seep into the ground after being conveyed by the storm system, he said.

For several years, water in the tested well has been contaminated by the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene.

Michael Phister, an engineer at the Department of Toxic Substances Control, said groundwater in Visalia is contaminated with the chemical at several places, and state and federal agencies are trying to determine which layers of underground soil have the contaminated water.

They took water samples up and down the well as part of the investigation, he said.

But no contaminated water was released to the street, he said. All water from the well is run through existing tanks of granulated activated carbon designed to remove the contamination, he said.

Normally, that amount of water would be put into water mains instead of street gutters, but because testing caused the well to be open to the air, there’s no guarantee the water would be safe from exposure to bacteria, California Water Service said.

Olmos said city officials understand the need to gather data but would have sought alternatives if they’d had a chance.

City officials said they are investigating the incident to make sure it’s not repeated.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/11/25/...ml?sp=/99/406/


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