The 1925 Earthquake Impacts Santa Barbara's Desalination Project
Contaminated Soil Likely Came From Quake Debris
Santa Barbara's Desalination Plant scheduled to be complete in early October.
A strange link to a destructive day in Santa Barbara's history has emerged during construction on the city's Charles Meyer Desalination plant.
Joshua Haggmark, the city's water resources manager, confirms to NewsChannel 3 that a large amount of contaminated soil was discovered by construction crews back in November.
A council agenda report from January 12 reveals that "suspicious soils were encountered and construction was halted." Preliminary testing of six locations showed soil contaminated with primarily lead associated with rubble and debris and some diesel, both from an unknown source.
Haggmark said "There's a good chance that the source came from the (city's) earthquake in 1925."
The crumbled buildings and damaged properties from the 6.8 earthquake left mounds of debris that Haggmark said was likely hauled off to the area that is now near and around E. Montecito and E. Yananoli Streets.
The city report reveals that currently, the estimates call for the removal of approximately 5,800 cubic yards of material. The work started in early December.
The discovery of the contaminated soil delayed work on the desal project by 30 days.
Haggmark said it isn't financially feasible to remediate all of the contaminated soil in the area; the city is focusing solely on land impacted by the desalination project.
Haggmark said the $55 million dollar budget will absorb the cost to change out the contaminated soil, however, if another "major" challenge arises, additional funds will be needed.
The rest of the budget funds are earmarked for $43 million dollars toward the contract with IDE, the company building the plant. Additional costs include permitting funds, construction management and design.
Santa Barbara's desalination plant is expected to be completed on October 7 of this year.
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