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The California Regional Water Quality Control Board is requiring the cleanup at 4020 and 4030 Main St., the site of the district's older station and its newer facility, respectively, due to soil contamination that resulted from underground storage tanks removed from the sites in the 1990s.
Notices on the proposed cleanup plan for the site have begun going out to community members.
“Before our station was built here there used to be a gas station here and there were underground tanks,” said Fire Chief Mike Stone.
The state's notice on the environmental cleanup plan explained that three tanks were removed from the 4030 Main St. site – formerly the gas station – in 1991, and one tank used by the fire district was removed from 4020 Main St. in 1995.
The state's documents indicated that tests at the time showed there was soil contamination, and some of that soil was removed.
Stone – who took over as chief in 2009 – said the district believed that the site cleanup was completed before building the new fire station, which was completed in September 2006.
However, Stone said it was around 2007 that the California Regional Water Quality Control Board served the district with an abatement notice because it said contaminated soil remained under the station.
David Clegern, a spokesman for the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, said that after underground storage tanks are removed, soil usually needs to be removed, too, in order to ensure there is no contamination.
When a contaminated site is identified, Clegern said the property owner will contract with a specialized firm to conduct the removal, with the process continuing until the state determines that the cleanup is sufficient.
With the state ordering a cleanup, Stone said the district has to comply.
“We're in the process now of cleaning up the soil,” said Stone. “It's really that simple.”
It will be an expensive process for the small district, which Stone said has an annual budget of around $2.4 million.
However, Clegern said the state generally helps pay for the cleanup depending on who the responsible party is.
That reimbursement comes through the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund, which the water board reported was created by the Legislature in 1989.
The state said the fund is meant to help underground storage tank owners and operators meet federal and state requirements, and also assists other entities “by providing reimbursement for unexpected and catastrophic expenses” associated with the cleanup of leaking underground petroleum tanks.
Stone said the state has allocated $3 million – $1.5 million per site – to reimburse Kelseyville Fire for its underground storage tank removal.
However, he noted, “They don't give it all out in one lump sum,” so the district is having to foot the bill up front. The hope, he said, is that the district will break even after the reimbursements come in.
Stone didn't have a calculation for how much the district has spent so far, but in this year's budget they've set aside $100,000 for the work.
Prior to Stone's arrival as chief in 2009, he said a number of monitoring wells had been drilled around the stations to see what kinds of hydrocarbons were in the soil and how concentrated they were.
About two weeks ago a contractor began drilling extraction wells around the station properties. When that process is completed, there will be 30 small wells, which Stone said will look like small, 8- to 9-inch manhole covers. The wells will be between 30 and 40 feet deep.
The drilling process, he noted, is very expensive, and will cost the district more than $100,000.
Stone said the drilling won't disrupt the district's activities, with plans made to respond out of different parts of the station according to where the drilling activity is taking place.
He said the extraction process will start within a month or two.
That process will involve a scientific way of breaking down the hydrocarbons in the soil. Stone said the contractor will inject a substance into the soil that will turn the waste material into vapor. That vapor, in turn, will be removed.
“It's a low impact cleanup,” he said, adding, “The noise is minimal.”
The extraction apparatus will be contained in a soundproof trailer behind the station. Stone said one of the concerns was keeping the cleanup as low-key as possible so it wouldn't impact the neighbors.
Once extraction is complete, Stone said soil testing will take place every six months to ensure that all of the soil is complete.
He said it still isn't clear how long the entire process will take.
Clegern said such cleanups can take a long time. “The remediation process can go on for several years,” with “a fair amount” of monitoring going on afterward to determine if the site is stable.
The public comment period on the cleanup, which began on April 22, closes May 22.
The documents can be found online at http://geotracker.swrcb.ca.gov , address 4020 Main St. (Global ID No. T0603300059), and 4030 Main St. (Global ID No. T0603300019).
For more information or to comment on the plan, contact Glenn Meeks of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, 11020 Sun Center Drive No. 200, Rancho Cordova, CA, 95670-6114, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-464-4708.
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