PCE Contamination Call to ActionSouth Lake Tahoe PCE Groundwater Contamination
September 2018
ISSUE:
• 72% of the water supply in South Lake Tahoe is under threat from PCE contamination.
• Immediate steps are necessary to protect South Lake Tahoe’s drinking water supply.
• The community of South Lake Tahoe should not bear the cost to clean up the
groundwater contamination caused by the polluters.
We request a written commitment of resources with a timeline to accomplish the following
ACTIONS:
• Extract PCE from groundwater as soon as possible to prevent another public water
supply well from being contaminated.
• Provide replacement water sources for Lukins Brothers Water Company to replace
water supply lost to PCE contamination. Proposed solutions include wellhead treatment
and new wells.
• Provide replacement water sources for Tahoe Keys Water Company to replace water
supply lost to PCE contamination. Potential solutions include wellhead treatment and
new wells.
• Install and monitor sentinel wells between the PCE plume and uncontaminated wells
adjacent to the PCE plume (see attached map). If plume spreads to adjacent wells, the
majority of South Lake Tahoe’s community water supply will be contaminated.
BACKGROUND:
• South Lake Tahoe water suppliers (South Tahoe Public Utility District, Lukins Brothers
Water Company, and Tahoe Keys Water Company) rely wholly on groundwater.
• In 1989, PCE was discovered in groundwater. PCE is a manmade chemical used from the
1960s to 1980s as a solvent for dry cleaning clothes and degreasing metal. Federal and
State agencies listed PCE as a carcinogen and toxic pollutant in 1980s.
• The PCE plume continues to grow from its original location at a dry-cleaning business
located at the intersection of Highways 50 and 89. As of March 2018, groundwater
monitoring documented the plume at approximately 400 acres.
• In the decades since PCE was discovered, the plume has contaminated 7 wells. South
Tahoe PUD and Tahoe Keys WC have installed treatment systems. Lukins Brothers WC
stopped using impacted wells and is temporarily supplementing the lost capacity with
water purchased from South Tahoe PUD. Lukins Brothers WC is in the process of
installing a treatment facility at one of its impacted well sites.
• The impact of the plume poses a serious human health threat. Rate payers have already
paid to study, monitor, and mitigate some of the contamination.
• The financial burden of studying, monitoring, and cleaning up the pollution should fall
on the polluters, not the community of South Lake Tahoe.
• Holding the polluters accountable is important, but must be done in parallel with
protecting South Lake Tahoe’s community water supply from further contamination.
• For more info on South Lake Tahoe’s groundwater go to www.stpud.us/groundwater