Water contamination plagues surviving homes in Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove neighborhood

After two months of abiding by the prohibition on drinking the water, the family learned this week that they're now not supposed to take baths or hot showers in it. It's a bitter pill to swallow because they just got their Pacific Gas & Electric service restored on Dec. 15, she said.

Before that they spent three weeks huddled around space heaters and showering at a neighbor's house, the only other home standing in their immediate neighborhood. Now the city tells them only to take short, lukewarm showers, and ventilate the area immediately afterward. No baths or hot tub use is recommended.

“For me that's horrible,” Cromphout said of not being able to take a hot bath, “especially in this kind of weather.”

Recent test results are the reason for the new restrictions. While initial tests showed “slightly elevated” levels of benzene contamination, the city has been finding far higher contamination levels in isolated locations as it expanded its testing efforts.

California water regulations limit the amount of benzene in drinking water to 1 part per billion. But some of the more recent test results in the area have returned with levels as high as 918 parts per billion.

Since Dec. 12, there have been 87 test results in the area that confirmed the presence of benzene at levels higher than 1 part per billion, which is the maximum containment level (or MLC) for benzene in drinking water in the state.

There were four results over 500 parts per billion, three between 100 and 500, 13 between 25 and 100, 28 between 5 and 25, and 39 between 1 and 5, and dozens more that detected levels below 1 or nothing at all.

The city did not provide the dates of the tests, but said the highest four test results had come in recent weeks, triggering the additional precautions against bathing and hot water.

Three of the four highest readings came from water service lines to lots very close to one another off Southridge Drive. One was on Braken Court and two were on Bluesage Court.

The city did not provide the exact addresses of its test locations, but Bluesage only has a half-dozen or so homes. One used to be owned by Santa Rosa school board member Bill Carle.

“It certainly gives you cause for concern,” Carle said of the contamination.

If the water system is compromised, it makes Carle wonder what else is wrong with the lots. If burned system components really are to blame, why aren't other parts of the city that were equally devastated having the same issues, he asks.

“It doesn't make any sense,” he said.

Carle, an attorney, said he wonders whether different materials were used in the construction of the infrastructure of Coffey Park, Wikiup and Fountaingrove. He urged the city to be completely transparent about the problem going forward.

“I think all of us want to be tracking this, and if we feel some level of concern, we'd potentially want to bring our own experts,” Carle said.

Real estate agent Tammra Borrall is listing a burned property on West Bristlecone Court for $299,000. She said she had not been told by the property owner about any issues with the water quality, which would be something that would have to be disclosed to future buyers. She said her client said she was unaware of the issue.

Burke said the city has been focused on the health of the people living in the homes, and hasn't sent letters to owners of destroyed properties, though she said some of the information is on the recovery website.

City officials say they are confident the contamination is limited to the 184 acres in Fountaingrove.

Hundreds of samples from the area immediately surrounding the advisory areas and other parts of the city, such as Coffey Park, have found no issues. A single slightly elevated result was found east of the advisory area but did not return after that section of the system was flushed out, Burke said.

To ensure this remains the case, the city has isolated the contaminated area with a series of valves that allow water to flow in but not flow back out, Horenstein said. Water pressure in the area, which is about 600 hundred feet above the valley floor, is currently strong, but has had issues in the past.

The water actually going to the homes left standing contains levels below 1 part per billion, and that has been the case since the crisis began, with a single exception that was resolved with a component replacement, she said.

Lower contamination at homes left standing makes some sense, Horenstein said.

Existing homes, and likely the immediate area and ground around them, would have been exposed to lower heat levels than those that burned, lending support to the idea that the heat from the fire is at fault, he said.

The problem is that test results don't fully support the theory that burned components are solely to blame for the contamination, Horenstein said.

“The data is really still too uncertain and confusing to make those conclusions,” he said.

That's because in some cases, the city has isolated an individual court, removed all the meters and replaced plastic service lines, flushed the system with fresh water, waited a while, retested, and found that benzene levels eventually crept back up again after an initial drop.

That would suggest something else is at play, he said.

Benzene is an organic compound that is formed from both human activities, such as gasoline production, and natural processes, such as forest fires.

It could be that the water mains, which are typically made of high-strength cement, or the service laterals, which are usually made of a high-density polyethylene, have somehow absorbed the benzene and are releasing it back into the water, he said.

It could also be that there are underground storage tanks in proximity to the compromised lines, Horenstein said, though he acknowledged that this seems less likely given the number of different hot spots identified by the tests. This area of Fountaingrove was largely pristine hillside until it was developed as homes in the 1980s and 1990s.

It's also possible that the low water pressure the area experienced during and immediately after the fire drew in contaminants, but nothing is conclusive.

“We know the cause of the contamination is the fire, but exactly how is what we're trying to figure out,” Burke said.

The longer the problem persists and the longer the investigation fails to conclusively pinpoint a cause, the more likely it is that a full replacement of the water system in the area will be needed, Horenstein said.

“At this point, it seems possible if not likely that we may have to do a wholesale replacement of the majority of the infrastructure in that area,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.