TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Raytheon Says Groundwater Cleanup Will Be Lengthy

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK DOUGLAS

News Channel 8

Published: August 15, 2008

PINELLAS PARK - Top managers with Raytheon told the Agency on Bay Management on Thursday that cleaning up groundwater contamination near its St. Petersburg defense plant will take quite a while.

"Doing it in five years would be miraculous," said Bob Luhrs, Raytheon's manager of environmental health and safety.

Luhrs promised that Raytheon will stay with the project until the groundwater is as clean as drinking water.

Contaminants from the plant site - including 1,4-dioxane, trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride - have been spreading from underneath the plant property into areas including the Azalea neighborhood. The plume has contaminated irrigation wells and prompted testing for air quality in homes and a school.

The assurances from Raytheon at Thursday's meeting didn't ease concerns of one member of the agency board, Terrie Weeks, who lives in the Azalea neighborhood.

"Did I hear answers that satisfied my concerns? No," said Weeks, who has joined some of her neighbors in a class-action lawsuit filed against Raytheon. "People are very, very concerned."

The Agency on Bay Management is the natural resources committee of the Tampa Bay Regional Council and the primary community organization focusing on protection and management of the Tampa Bay estuary.

Luhrs said that to clean up the contamination, Raytheon is using a pump-and-treat process designed to break down 1,4-dioxane into carbon dioxide and water through an oxidation process. Equipment Raytheon is acquiring will pump about 30 to 40 gallons of water a minute from the underground plume.

The pumping will not cause any significant water draw-downs so there are no concerns about sinkholes developing or irrigation wells running dry, Luhrs said. The water will go to a wastewater treatment plant.

He said the process will cost millions. "It's extremely expensive," Luhrs said. "But money is not the point."

Raytheon is satisfied by test results showing low concentrations of contaminants in residential wells and studies showing there is no health risk, said Mitch Lee, vice president and site executive.

"We are very pleased with where we are today," he said. "We are committed to cleaning this up. We are not going anywhere."

He also said the company doesn't mind paying for Azalea Elementary School indoor air tests, which the school district conducted at a cost of $20,000.

"We are more than willing to do that," he said.

The Agency on Bay Management was primarily concerned with the status of Boca Ciega Bay. Lee and Luhrs said tests for a creek that runs along Farragut Drive and into the bay showed contaminants in four places. The chemicals do not endanger the bay, the two said.

"The last two samples collected down near the bay are clean," Luhrs said. "So we have no information showing that it's actually reaching the bay."

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (813) 536-9603 or mdouglas@wfla.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT