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City , tand ic TORItC�Xt0 W� Continued from B-1 ,, the CYA and the private well is Tests reveal presence of R+,} �� , coming from the dump, said. Chen. cancer causing chemical $ A company called Forward Inc. =g ran a toxic-waste dump just south P of the city's landfill, but samples f,F By Christopher Woodard around that dump show no signs The Stockton Record of leakage, said Chen. "We are the ones with the smoking Toxic chemicals are seeping from a city of Stockton g gun, so to i r landfill into groundwater and might be polluting wells a speak,"he said. mile away at the California Youth Authority, recent wa- The latest tests, conducted Feb. ter tests show. 23, showed the following chemi- A residential drinking-water well a half-mile north of cals in the following concentra- the city's Austin Road dump also showed significant tions at the dump site: amounts of two types of carcinogenic: solvents. The ■ Trichloroethene (TCE), an property owner has been warned not to drink the water industrial solvent — 26 parts per pending further tests. billion. The state standard for The city has hired a San Jose consultant to do exten TCE is no more than 5 ppb. sive groundwater sampling around the dump, but it ■ Tetrachloroethene (PCE), a could take several months before the extent of the dry cleaning solvent — 58 ppb. pollution is known,said City Manager Alan Harvey. The state allows no more than 4 "Fortunately, it's a sparsely populated-area," said ppb. Harvey, who added the city acted quickly to hire the t:1 2 2, Tetrachloroethane, consultant and a solvent used in paint and var as- sess the damage. nishes, among other things — 22 ''Hopefully, w e '`oiC e ! ppb. The state has no standard caught it in time." Austin Road landfill is located Stephen Chen, a deputy public works south of the California Youth fo'r this chemical; director who is Authority and east of Highway's Two cheihicals, TCE and PCE overseeing the test- shwed upriO the residential well ing, said it's prema- ArchRoad Arch Austin roads at con- t u r e to say how entratiifts- of 1.6 ppb and 5.6 much the testing or 99 Cy;:; ppb. , cleanup could cost. d Two other types of solvents ini Chen ex cts the Austin `' tially we*found at the CYA facili- Road ResidenBal ty -.1',2 Dichloroethane and 111 testing to cost in the well where area of$200,000. Landfill leak � Trichloroethane — but subse- costs are discovered gUent tests showed the water was Cleanup clean. More testing is required to impossible to gauge Littlejohn confirm the results. exactly because the Creek .. a icon Baker, an information offi- extent of the pollut- cer with the state Department of ion hasn't been de- Forward •Health Services, said prolonged termined. At Sharpe inc. Landfill exposure to the solvents can Army Depot, where cause liver and kidney damage. solvent contamination has been extensive,cleanup has All the solvents are suspected of cost the taxpayers more than$2 million. causing cancer in humans. The contamination was discovered in January after J.C. Isham, a consultant for the the city commissioned EMCON Associates, a San Jose San Jose company doing the test waste management consulting firm, to perform state- ing,wouldn't speculate how much mandated groundwater testing around the Austin Road the cleanup could cost, but didn't Landfill: t expect landfill contamination to The firm was hired to prepare a report of its findings be as serious it is at other sites, for submission to the California Regional Water Quality That's because toxics at dumps are secondary in nature. They Control Board, which will oversee the testing and generally seep from household cleanup. J.F: garbage — paint cans, solvents plastics, Groundwater tests at the dump confirm significant and p � concentrations of carcinogenic or potentially can cer-causing — solvents are seeping into the gruun I a t f ter,the consultant found. Initial testing revealed two types of solvents in two of `f, CYA's four wells in amounts greater than those allowed by the state.A follow-up test was inconclusive. No one is sure if contamination a ; ;•} Saw TnXIC_R-3 l