{"id":413666,"date":"2026-01-17T21:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413666\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:17:15","slug":"epa-has-options-for-cleaning-up-contaminated-water-in-north-oc-public-meetings-this-month-to-take-input-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413666\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA has options for cleaning up contaminated water in north OC, public meetings this month to take input \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public feedback on its options<\/a> for cleaning up, at least in the interim, the Orange County North Basin Superfund site<\/a>, where a large plume of contaminated groundwater continues to spread beneath Fullerton and Anaheim and has most recently reached into Buena Park.<\/p>\n

Extending more than six miles long and a mile wide, the plume contains harmful volatile organic compounds resulting from decades of degreasing solvents used in local manufacturing from the 1950s through the early 1980s. In 2020, the area made the list of federal Superfund projects \u2014 a program for addressing some of the nation\u2019s most contaminated hazardous waste sites \u2014 and has been added to the EPA\u2019s National Priorities List<\/a>, because the contamination directly affects drinking water.<\/p>\n

About 22 cities, through the Orange County Water District, rely on the North Basin for roughly 85% of their drinking water. Six drinking water wells have already been removed from service because of the groundwater contamination, including chemicals associated with increased cancer risk, such as tetrachloroethylene, also known as PCE. But officials emphasized that the drinking water currently being served is from outside the plume and meets state and federal drinking water standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plume is continuing to migrate. It\u2019s getting larger and deeper into zones used for drinking water production,\u201d said Dave Mark, a principal hydrogeologist at the Orange County Water District<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s important that this plume be addressed so we don\u2019t lose more wells.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf more wells are lost, water producers would either need to buy more imported water or build expensive treatment plants. Either option raises costs for ratepayers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The groundwater plume spans in the basin from roughly near the 57 on the west to Chapman and Commonwealth avenues to the north, Lincoln Avenue to the south, and Magnolia Avenue to the east.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to protect Southern California groundwater since it\u2019s such an important resource,\u201d EPA Remedial Project Manager Amanda Cruz said.<\/p>\n

Cruz said the Orange County North Basin<\/a> has \u201calways been a very high priority site within the agency\u201d and described the cleanup timeline as \u201clightning fast,\u201d given the typically lengthy process. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re here with such a large project is a testament to how dedicated everyone is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the fastest times we\u2019ve gone from listing to interim proposed plan,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

EPA officials plan to focus on targeting areas with the highest concentrations of contaminated groundwater, with the goal of preventing further spread. Treating the plume underground isn\u2019t feasible, officials said, because of the size of the area and physical limitations, among other reasons. The four options considered available rely on extracting the groundwater and treating it using existing facilities or building a new plant, but vary in how that is accomplished. There are also monitoring plans.<\/p>\n

The estimated cost ranges between $234 milllion and $301 million.<\/p>\n

The agency said it will consider comments from the community that can be shared at three upcoming public meetings later this month before deciding how to move forward.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026 (6\u20137 p.m.)\u00a0 Buena Park Community Center, 6688 Beach Blvd., Buena Park
\nThursday, Jan. 22, 2026 (5:30\u20137:30 p.m.) Fullerton Community Center, 340 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton
\nThursday, Jan. 29, 2026 (5\u20137 p.m.) Brookhurst Community Center, 2271 Crescent Ave., Anaheim<\/p>\n

David Feldman, a UC Irvine professor specializing in water resource management and policy, said the shutdown of the affected wells was largely precautionary, aimed at minimizing potential exposure. He credited the Orange County Water District with taking a proactive approach to groundwater management, including the use of recycled wastewater for drinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really why this issue has come to the forefront,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cBecause regulators and water providers are trying to be as vigilant as possible to protect the public\u2019s health and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public feedback on its options for cleaning up, at least in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[40754,198337,2356,1075,192,167046,983,3,6011,79,452,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-413666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-buena-park","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-fullerton","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orange-county","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-water"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}