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State will direct cleanup of Bridgeport fuel leak |
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Saturday, 14 November 2009 |
By Wendilyn Grasseschi
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
The state will direct cleanup of contamination associated with an old diesel heating oil tank on Mono County property in Bridgeport.
The leak is located at the county’s mental health facility in Bridgeport off Hanford Street. It was detected this summer when county crews were scheduled to remove the old tank, said Dianna Shinn, a registered environmental health specialist with the county.
The spill is not considered dangerous to the public at this time, but because the fuel reached down to the water table – about seven feet in the Bridgeport area – the state is mandated to get involved and to establish the cleanup procedures, Shinn said.
“The tank was empty when we went to remove it, but it was installed in the ‘30s and it is possible the leak occurred long ago,” Shinn said. “The tests we have done have shown the contamination to extend about seven to nine feet down, and about the same in each direction, although there will have to be more tests to see if it has also gone farther.”
Bridgeport has had several previous problems with fuel spills from aging or historic gasoline tanks, something that is not uncommon in the Eastern Sierra because of the many old gas stations that were once scattered up and down U.S. 395. But Bridgeport is unique in that its water table – the depth at which water is reached when a well is drilled – shallow compared to most of the Eastside, where the water table can be hundreds of feet down, according to Shinn.
For Bridgeport, this means contamination from a spill can more easily reach the groundwater and possibly drinking water, making both the potential problems and the cleanup more complicated and more time consuming.
Shinn said she is sending a letter to the state this week notifying them of the problem. The state will then direct the next round of testing to see how far the contamination has spread and it will also direct the county in methods to use to clean up the contamination.
The method used to clean up such a spill varies according to the size of the spill, whether it has actually reached any drinking water sources and many, many other factors, including soil type.
The cleanup should begin some time next year.
The county will most likely have to foot the bill for the cleanup, because the tank was above ground and most grant money for fuel spill cleanup is for underground tanks, Shinn said.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 November 2009 )
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