Low levels of chemical found in Salt Lake water well

Low levels of a hazardous chemical used in dry cleaning and degreasing have been detected in a Salt Lake City culinary water well, but officials stress there is no danger.

Perchloroethylene, often called PCE, was found in a city well used to supply drinking water, located at 1500 East and 500 South. But the levels are not dangerous, and no trace of the chemical has been detected in the reservoir near Eccles Stadium where water from the well is pumped.

The underground plume of contamination has been discovered from around 500 South to 900 South and from about 1400 East to 1600 East, said Chad Gilgen, site project manager for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

But it is far underground and poses no problems except for groundwater quality considerations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering designating the contaminated groundwater, termed the "700 S. 1600 East plume," as a Superfund cleanup site. City Council member Dave Buhler has called for a public meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue.

"It's a real concern," Buhler said in a telephone interview. The plume of contaminated groundwater, about 100 feet underground, has been monitored for a long time. Originally it was detected in an irrigation well that supplies water for a cemetery. But recently, traces of the chemical were found in the culinary well.

Levels found are "well below drinking water standards," said Jeff Niermeyer, deputy director of the city Public Utilities Department. Safety standards are set at 5 parts per billion, while the highest ever seen in the well is 1.8 parts.

"There are some high concentrations just off Guardsman, about 700 South," he said. Guardsman Way is 1580 East.

The plume of contaminated groundwater is spreading and the city culinary well "is starting to show signs of the edge of the plume," Niermeyer said.

Nobody drinks water directly from the well. It is pumped into a nearby reservoir, close to the Hoberman arch at Rice-Eccles Stadium, 451 S. 1400 East. In the underground reservoir, this water is mixed with water from other sources.

When the reservoir water flows out, it is monitored. No trace of PCE has been detected in it.

"Drinking water is perfectly safe," Niermeyer said.

"We would turn it (the well) off before it got to the levels that anybody would be in danger," he said. But city officials don't want to do that because "it would be a loss of our resource."