> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # City to move forward with water cleanup - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-to-move-forward-with-water-cleanup/ - Published: 2002-06-07T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:19:19.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Decides not to wait for oil company lawsuit to be settled by courts* Santa Monica isn't waiting around for oil companies to clean up its water supply. Six years after closing wells that produced 70 percent of the city’s water because of high levels of MTBE contamination, city officials are moving forward with plans to clean up the city's largest source of water — the Charnock Wells. And they are doing so without waiting for a verdict in the lawsuit against the companies believed to be responsible for the contamination. “We have decided... that six years is too long to wait for outside parties to begin designing and planning for the cleanup of our water supply,” said Craig Perkins, director of the environmental and public works department. “So the city has moved forward with that process now.” In the last two months, city officials have begun meeting with representatives from California Department of Health on how the cleanup needs to proceed. They have also hired a cadre of consultants to begin running pilot programs on removing MTBE from water. “MTBE is a tricky chemical,” said Gill Balboa, the city’s water utilities manager. “It finds its way into the ground water easily, it moves through the aquifer very quickly and it is very difficult to remove.” The Charnock Wells are located in Mar Vista, near the intersection of Palm Boulevard and Sawtelle Boulevard. The tests are expected to take between 12-18 months to complete, Perkins said. Based on the results, the city will begin the planning process for a new water treatment facility and the environmental review process. “But it will be a long time before we are able to turn on the wells from a water treatment facility,” Perkins said. “At least five years.” Methyl tertiary-Butyl Ether is a colorless chemical that at very low concentrations smells like turpentine and is a suspected carcinogen. The state was scheduled to ban the gasoline additive, but California Gov. Gray Davis has delayed the action. Two years ago, Santa Monica sued 18 refiners, manufacturers and suppliers of MTBE and MTBE-laden gasoline for allowing the chemical to leak into its ground water. The pollution closed seven of Santa Monica’s 11 wells, forcing the city to import nearly 80 percent of the 12 million gallons of water it uses each day. Until the ground water is cleaned, the oil companies are paying $3.5 million a year to import drinking water to the city. Cleaning up the city’s wells and building a water treatment facility has been estimated to cost several hundred million dollars. Though the oil companies were successful in moving the trial to an Orange County court, the city has won every challenge to its lawsuit. Joe Lawrence, a deputy city attorney working on the case, said it is highly unlikely the lawsuit will be settled out of court. “We expect there will be a trial,” he said. “And probably the trial will take place in the middle or end of next year.” He added, “We are nowhere near a resolution at this point.” Meanwhile, the oil companies have been pointing fingers at each other, denying responsibility and blaming other companies named in the lawsuit, Lawrence said. The infighting has all but prevented any one company from settling with the city. Recently, oil companies lost similar MTBE cases across the country, including in South Tahoe, Calif. Those companies found liable have been ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages. “The city has always believed we would be victorious,” Lawrence said. “The Tahoe ruling didn’t bring any new confidence, it just confirmed what we had believed all along would be the result.” Since 1997, Santa Monica has budgeted $2.2 million annually for the study, investigation and now treatment of the MTBE-contaminated wells at the Charnock wells and the Arcadia wells, which are located in West Los Angeles. “We must clean these wells for our future generations,” said Councilman Ken Genser. “We want to start it now to make sure it’s done right and that we’re in control of the process. “But we also do not want to be dependent on outside water any longer than we need to.” Six months ago, Santa Monica opened a water treatment facility for the Arcadia wells — two of the MTBE contaminated wells. But the amount of water that can be drawn from the wells is minimal compared to the capacity at Charnock, officials said. “We are pleased to have the Arcadia wells back online and it’s a step in the right direction, but admittedly it’s a small step,” Balboa said. “The Charnock wells represent 90 percent of the contaminated water we shut down.” Charnock is also more polluted. Early tests found that the water contained more than 600 parts per billion of MTBE. Arcadia’s water contained 86 parts per billion. The state has determined that water must contain less than 5 parts per billion before it is safe to drink. Because of the high levels of contamination and amount of water located there, the Charnock wells will require a massive treatment facility. The facility will have to operate continuously to handle the approximately 7,000 gallons of water coming out of the wells per minute, Perkins said. In fact the plant must be so large, there isn’t enough land by the wells to build it. So, the city plans to pipe the water to the Arcadia site where enough land is available to build the facility. “We may have to reconstruct the city’s water reservoir to fit everything in at the Arcadia site,” Perkins said. “And that could be a considerable expense.” The Arcadia Wells are located near the intersection of Bundy Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. Currently, the city treats water drawn from the Arcadia wells with granularly activated carbon. The water is run through a huge filter made of carbon, which absorbs the MTBE. However, the carbon filter wouldn’t be able to completely clean the Charnock water. Balboa said the city plans on using the carbon process in addition to an advanced oxidation process to clean the Charnock water. The oxidation process involves adding hydrogen peroxide to the water and then using high intensity ultraviolet light to cause a chemical reaction that burns off the MTBE. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/060702-01_01.jpg) Amara Russell, who plays for the Santa Monica High School Vikings’ softball team, dives for a ball during practice on Thursday. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 7, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060702.pdf?ref=smdp.com)