STPUD PCE Response Letter 2.16.18_Page_1General Manager
Kichard H. Solbrig
2/16/2018
Dear Mr. Jinkens,
Directors
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Tahoe
Chris Cefalu
James R. Janes
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Utility
District
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Keellylly5Shhublic
Duane Wallace
1275 Meadow Crest Drive • South Lake Tahoe • CA 96150-7401
phone 530 544-6474 • Fax 530 541-0614 • www.stpud,us
Thank you for attending the February 7th public meeting on PCE contamination in the South Tahoe
"Y" area and for your follow-up letter. Water is a precious resource and the contamination of
groundwater impacts our entire community. I appreciate your involvement and wanted to address
some of your questions and concerns.
All of the drinking water in the District's water distribution system is of high quality, safe to drink
and does not contain PCE. Of the District's four wells that tested positive for PCE at the South "Y"
area in the early 1990s, three have been destroyed and the remaining well has a filtration system that
removes PCE, but is no longer in use. As such, none of the District's active wells pump groundwater
from the South "Y" area.
While the District's water supply is not directly impacted by the PCE plume, we are indirectly
affected as the District is providing drinking water to Lukins Brothers Water Company to ensure our
entire community has access to safe, clean drinking water. The Lukins' demand is using the
District's backup water supply. If the District were to have any problems with our wells, we are in a
situation where we may end up being short on water supply. As such, the District is actively working
with our partner water suppliers to identify alternative water supplies.
The District actively pursues federal, state, and local grants and loans to help alleviate the cost of
upgrading and maintaining the water and sewer system for our customers. The District has
successfully secured over one million dollars in grant and cost -share funds from the State Water
Resource Control Board through Proposition 1 and El Dorado County Water Agency to address the
PCE contamination at the South "Y."
We agree that it is unfortunate that PCE was found in our groundwater in 1989 and has not been
cleaned up. Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board is the state agency responsible for
determining who is responsible for the contamination, the cleanup method and overseeing that it is
completed. The District has supported Lahontan's efforts by sharing its water quality monitoring data
and findings of hydrologic investigations conducted over the years to address this issue. We will
continue to work with all partners to help develop a cost effective solution to this problem.
You can support efforts for additional grant funds by continuing to be involved and attending public
meetings.
Sincerely,
Richard Solbrig
General Manager