Thursday, April 3, 2008

ADEQ Fines Arizona American Water Company

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has announced that Arizona American Water company will pay $69,000 in penalties for water-quality violations in which its customers in Scottsdale & Paradise Valley received drinking water with levels of TCE (trichloroethylene) in excess of federal health standards.

The company is paying the penalty under a Consent Order it has entered into with ADEQ.

"This is the maximum penalty allowed under Arizona law for these violations," Director Steve Owens stated. "The company delivered contaminated drinking water to its customers, failed to maintain & operate its facilities to deliver safe drinking water, & failed to implement an adequate emergency plan. This is simply unacceptable."

TCE is an industrial solvent used to remove grease from metal parts & is an ingredient in adhesives, paint removers & spot removers. Some people who drink water with elevated levels of TCE over many years may have an increased risk of cancer & experience liver problems.

Some of the company's wells draw from groundwater containing TCE, but the water must be treated to remove the contaminant before it is safe to drink.

About 2:30 pm on Jan. 15th, 2008, the company's water treatment system broke down & the alarm system failed to operate. At about 6:30 am the following morning, an operator noticed that the system was not working & turned it back on. The company shut down the system at 9:30 am but did not alert
ADEQ & the Maricopa County Environmental Services Dept. (MCESD) until late that afternoon, about 4 pm. At about 5 pm, the company began using a "reverse 911" system to warn its customers not to drink or cook with tap water, but, according to the company, the warning reached only 65 to 70 percent of the company's nearly 5,000 customers. The company also issued a press release.

Tests taken by the company on Jan. 16th, found levels of TCE of up to 23 parts per billion (ppb) in the drinking water. The drinking water standard for TCE is 5 ppb. Tests did not show TCE levels below 5 ppb until results were received (for samples taken the day before) on Jan. 19th, when ADEQ & MCESD authorized the company to lift the warning against drinking the water.

In addition to requiring Arizona American to pay the maximum penalty allowed under state law, the Consent Order requires the company to stop using the 2 wells impacted by TCE contamination in the groundwater as drinking water sources until a new operations plan is approved. It also requires the company to submit a new plan for treating the water, including weekly sampling, as well as a new emergency operations plan.

ADEQ also cited the company for dumping water contaminated with excessive TCE levels into streets & storm sewers in Scottsdale & Paradise Valley without having a permit to do so & without notifying ADEQ or MCESD. The storm sewers empty into Indian Bend Wash & eventually into the Salt River.

The penalty also covers violations by the company between Oct. 9th-17th, 2007, when the company distributed drinking water mixed within adequately treated TCE-containing water & failed to notify ADEQ & MCESD until a month later in November 2007.