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# Wellwishers: SantaMonicans bankingonnew watersystem
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/see-team-mates-page-5-wellwishers-santamonicans-bankingonnew-watersystem/
- Published: 2004-09-29T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:14:13.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Cleanup costs could reach hundreds of millions*

*By Daily Press staff*

WEST LA — As hundreds of millions of dollars trickle into City Hall as a result of an immense legal settlement with numerous oil companies, officials here are beginning the long process of cleaning up Santa Monica’s contaminated drinking wells.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to hire Kennedy/Jenkins Consultants, Inc., for $7.4 million to begin clean-up efforts at the Charnock Well Field, the city’s main water source located in West Los Angeles. The firm will begin the initial phase to restore the drinking water production, a process expected to take years. The firm will develop a management plan and an engineering design report of the project, which will include conducting pilot studies and tests.

City officials met throughout the day on Tuesday to discuss how to begin the huge undertaking.

After years of litigation, three oil companies agreed last November to pay City Hall $92.5 million, as well as pay hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the city’s drinking water. The oil companies were held responsible for allowing Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether, a gasoline additive, to leak into the city’s drinking water supply.

Shell, ChevronTexaco and Exxon- Mobil each acknowledged their responsibility in contaminating half of the city’s drinking water in 1996 by allowing the chemical to seep into the groundwater. The contamination forced the closure of five of Santa Monica’s 11 drinking water wells.

The settlement will finance clean-up efforts and the restoration of the Charnock Well Field. A new, cutting-edge treatment facility — the first of its kind — will be built specifically to clean up the city’s tainted water.

The settlement ensures that the oil companies will pay for all costs to construct, operate and maintain the treatment plant that officials expect will clean the city’s water supply by 2008\. It’s expected that Santa Monicans will be able to drink their own water again within a decade.

The cleanup costs, which could exceed several hundred million dollars, will be paid for entirely by the oil companies.

City Hall’s lawsuit was levied against 18 oil companies and manufacturers in 2000\. City Hall has reached separate settlement agreements with other companies and the money will be used to cover out-of-pocket costs, and other city needs like continued water quality improvements and water security.

Since levying the suit in 2000, City Hall negotiated more than $18 million in separate settlements. The City Council accepted $4.5 million from oil giant Ultramar Ltd., while Atlantic Richfield Co. paid City Hall $9.75 million. Conoco Phillips paid $6 million and Conoco Inc. settled for more than $4.5 million. In March, WinAll Oil Co. settled for $350,000\. Lyondell Chemical Co. was the last defendant to settle litigation, agreeing to pay $3.55 million in April.

There are dozens of cities throughout the country still battling with oil companies over MTBE contamination. Before Santa Monica’s settlement, the largest pay-out by an oil company relating to MTBE was in Lake Tahoe for $69 million, according to city officials.

For Santa Monica, $30 million has gone into an interest-bearing escrow account and money will be withdrawn as it’s needed for the construction and operation of the treatment facility.

Because of its frequent monitoring, the city in 1996 was able to detect the contamination and cut off the water supply before it reached residents. Since the discovery of MTBE in the wells, the oil companies have been purchasing imported water to supply about half of the 12-plus million gallons of water used by Santa Monica residents and businesses every day.

MTBE was designed as a gasoline additive to boost fuel performance and reduce emissions. It has been used in California since 1986 and is a colorless chemical compound, which smells like turpentine at very low levels and is a suspected carcinogen.

It is now illegal to use MTBE in gasoline throughout California. However, most oil companies stopped using the additive in 2002.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 29, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)