Bay City News
A federal lawsuit filed by a corporate landfill operator just outside of Stockton alleges that inmates at a nearby prison hospital known as the California Health Care Facility are drinking well water that may be contaminated by toxic chemicals unfit for human consumption such as chloroform and carbon tetrachloride.
The plaintiffs allege that on-site concentrations of these chemicals are increasing due to what they say is the ongoing operation of a dry cleaning and laundry facility at the site shared by multiple state departments, as well as the use of halogenated solvents in facility maintenance and a chlorinated well water treatment system that provided drinking water for inmates and staff. They also believe this contamination is interfering with nearby groundwater cleanup efforts.
The Austin Road Landfill was opened by the city of Stockton in 1954. In 1989, groundwater contaminants known as "volatile organic compounds" were found seeping toward a nearby aquifer, and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board put a corrective action plan in place to extract the contaminated groundwater and clean it up.
Landfill operator Forward Inc. purchased the landfill from Stockton in 2000, and they're currently operating under a cleanup and abatement order issued by the regional water board in 2017 that includes groundwater remediation on the adjacent state prison facilities.
According to Forward's attorneys, however, the landfill is not the only source of groundwater contamination on the state properties, which include the California Health Care Facility (CHCF-Stockton) as well as multiple youth correctional facilities, administrative offices and the California Conservation Corps' Delta Center.
The lawsuit lists California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jeff Macomber and California Department of General Services director Ana Lasso as the defendants.
"Because the presence of a second groundwater contamination plume raises significant environmental and technical issues, Forward Landfill on several occasions approached Defendants to discuss coordination of efforts on investigation and remediation," the plaintiff's attorneys write in their federal complaint. "Defendants on each of those occasions refused to engage at all, refusing even to schedule a phone call to discuss and finally stating, 'you can initiate court action if you choose to pursue this matter further.'"
Forward's attorneys filed a federal complaint in February of this year, alleging that state employees are violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which was enacted in 1976 and governs the disposal of hazardous waste.
"The carbon tetrachloride and chloroform present in the groundwater at the state facilities are
recognized carcinogens and, if left untreated, may threaten individuals at the state facilities and migrate in groundwater off of the facility property. Such migration could then impact adjacent properties, including Forward Landfill," Forward's lawyers argue.
Carbon tetrachloride caused tumors in lab rats when ingested in drinking water, but its role as a carcinogen in humans has not been adequately studied, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chloroform may be associated with birth defects and cancer of the bladder or intestines, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Forward is asking a federal judge for an injunction requiring the defendants to cease all hazardous waste disposal at their Stockton-area facilities, and to eliminate the presence and migration of chloroform and carbon tetrachloride in the groundwater on site.
CDCR spokesperson Pedro Calderon Michel responded to inquiries by stating that the juvenile facilities in question were closed last year and the California Health Care Facility has never had a dry cleaning facility on-site.
"CHCF transports its incarcerated population's clothing to other CDCR institutions to be laundered," Calderon Michel said in an email Friday afternoon.
Patty Clary, executive director of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, said in an interview Friday that these chemicals should not be consumed by humans -- and similar problems have been reported at Mule Creek State Prison and Avenal State Prison.
"(CDCR) has a history of being rather cavalier about some extremely toxic chemicals," Clary said. "They've just got to spend the money and bring in an outside source of water."
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