Antelope's septic tank history revisited
DWR: Contamination in groundwater will only get worse.
Red Bluff Daily News - 6/24/03
By Cheryl Brinkley, staff writer

More than 100 Antelope residents and property owners attended the meeting, hosted by California Department of Water Resources, at Berrendos School to hear of a solution to their water and sewer problems.

Despite the heat, more than 100 Antelope residents filed into the Berrendos School gymnasium Thursday evening "to see if there was a solution to their sewer and water problems," said Red Bluff City Council member Forrest Flynn. "It's not just the wells that are affected by this, but all other water sources as well."

Jerry Boles, supervisor of the water quality and biology section of Department of Water Resources, opened the informational meeting with a history of DWR's involvement.

"In 1985, we were asked to conduct a groundwater study in the Antelope area by the Tehama County Department of Environmental Health," Boles said. "County officials were concerned about periodic water samples that indicated elevated concentrations of bacteria and nitrates in the groundwater."

This study indicated a few wells had nitrate concentrations in excess of the drinking water criterion of 45 mg/L, while about a fifth of the 78 wells sampled had elevated levels of more than 30 mg/L.

At the county's request, DWR conducted another study of nitrate and bacteria in 1990.

"Results were essentially the same as the previous study," Boles added.

In 2002, DWR was again requested to assist in evaluating the current groundwater quality by TC Environmental Health and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Groundwater levels were measured in 78 wells, nitrate was analyzed from 88 wells, and total coliform bacteria analysis were obtained from 48 wells during 2002. Sampling was done at different times throughout the year both prior to and after the formation of Lake Red Bluff. In addition, 170 water samples provided by residents of the Antelope area were analyzed for nitrate concentrations.

The Department of Water Resources has completed a report that discusses the results of the monitoring conducted during 2002. This report is currently undergoing internal review. Upon completion of this review, the report will be available on DWR's website www.dpla.water.ca.gov/nd.

"Most wells tend to be pretty shallow, less than 150 feet with most being 60 feet deep," said Tom Boullion, DWR engineer. "The highest concentration of nitrates are all in the densely developed area."

A member of the audience asked about using additives to septic tanks to break down the nitrate.

"A septic tank has all the bacteria it needs to break down material," Boles said. "Additives do not need to be used. They break the material down too fast causing faster release into leach lines."

"The soil is very porous," said Lee Mercer, director of TC Environmental Health. "Water picks up nitrates and moves them very quickly through the ground in porous soil. Denser ground doesn't allow water to move as fast."

Because of the nitrate problem, "The county set development to one-acre parcels in 1992," Mercer said.

"My neighbor built on one-quarter acre within the last four years," said Barbara Wagner. "That was allowed because the county split a half-acre parcel."

Mercer had no answer to that claim other than that the parcel must have been split prior to 1992, but not built on until recently.

"My surprise was that I didn't know lots had been split," Mercer said in a Friday morning interview. "I will have to check to see when the parcel was created. There is a 1-acre minimal density unless the property owner would agree to install a sewer system."

A county standard and code has been in force since the 1970s, Mercer added. The minimum distance for a well is 50 feet from a septic tank and 100 feet from the nearest leachfield.

The county has only been monitoring the distance between wells and septic tanks since 1985, Mercer was heard to say. In a Friday interview, he said, "That is not correct. I was talking about the inspection of wells and construction."

Resident Robert Harvey questioned the hook-up costs concerned that it would cost residents thousands of dollars to hook up to a city sewage system.

Jim Rohrbach of the Regional Water Quality Control Board told residents they may have to pay an estimated $40 to $60 per month to connect to city sewer lines in order to eliminate septic tank use in the area.

Information regarding the cost of hook up and monthly fees will be available to the public in three or four months, according to George Robson, Tehama County planning director.

Harvey also mentioned that the city has been planning annexation of the Antelope area for more than five years.

"The city has no current plans to annex any of this land," said City Manager Susan Price.

"The city doesn't have any plans for annexation of the Antelope area, and as long as I can recall, we have accepted annexation recommendations, but we have not accepted any of them," said Charles Hayden, planning director.

"I was asked to talk about solutions," Rohrbach said. "I want to commend DWR for the excellent job they have done. Contamination in the groundwater is only going to get worse. A short-term solution would be to put everybody on public water, but we are looking at long term. Eventually the contamination will go down deeper and affect deeper wells. Even if you sink other, deeper wells, the sewer problem is still there. Who's at fault for this problem? I personally feel the great preponderance is the septic tank issue. The best way to solve the problem is through the city sewer and water department."

A comment was made that it would take more than their lifetime to rid the Antelope area's groundwater of nitrates.

Rohrbach agreed that surface water cleans up very fast, but the groundwater will take a very long time.

"But you would be keeping the problem from getting worse, and that's for future generations," Rohrbach said.

Mercer guaranteed that all property owners in the Antelope area in question will be notified of the entire nuts and bolts of the project as soon as the results of the studies are in.

"What if the people vote against hooking up to the city," asked one resident.

"It is within our authority to shut down septic systems," Rohrbach answered. "It's the last thing we want to do, but there comes a point when we have to exercise our charge.

Dave Meurer, field representative for Congressman Wally Herger, was in attendance at the meeting Thursday evening.

"If the county needs, we want to be an available funding source," Meurer said. "We are not here to push this through, but just to help in any way we can. There is a good possibility of federal grant funding for this type of need. It would be a 50 percent to 60 percent grant with the balance being a loan, but could also go up to 70 percent of the cost. We will be aggressively pushing to get the funding through."

Tehama County and the City of Red Bluff have been ordered to do something about resolving the groundwater contamination by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, according to Robson.

"We have some really good people on this team," Robson said. "I agree with the Daily News editorial about a citizen committee. It's an excellent idea."