[CPEO-MEF] Fuel Chemical Tainting Some Groundwater

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Utah
Fuel Chemical Tainting Some Groundwater
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OGDEN -- A toxic chemical used in rocket fuel has caused increasing
concern for its contamination of water supplies through much of the
Southwest, and Utah, which played a major role in rocket-motor
manufacture, has known areas of groundwater contamination.

How much of the chemical, perchlorate, can be in drinking water before
it is dangerous is still in question.

There are three plumes of underground water in Utah that are known to
have perchlorate contamination, said Bill Wallner of the Utah Division
of Solid and Hazardous Waste.

One, from Hill Air Force Base, is part of an already well-documented
plume of solvent-contaminated water left over from World War II and
postwar waste disposal at the base.

That plume is spreading west of the base into Roy.

The second is near Thiokol, west of Brigham City. Wallner said it is
spreading south into an area where there are several ranches.

The third is around the Alliant Techsystems (formerly Hercules)
facilities in West Valley City and Magna. Some of that has started to
show up in a few drinking water wells in Magna, "and more extensively we
are seeing drinking water contamination in the drinking water system
that Kennecott has," Wallner said.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jan/01072003/utah/18037.asp

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