Santa Rosa making progress on Fountaingrove's water contamination issues

Santa Rosa is making significant progress toward rebuilding parts of the water system in Fountaingrove contaminated by benzene during the October wildfires.

Two teams of contractors have been performing work to replace service lines inside and outside the 184-acre “advisory zone,” where the contamination is believed to have reached some water mains.

The lead contractor, Kansas-based Terracon, has completed replacement of 352 water service lines, which run from the large water mains to the curb to serve individual homes.

Sonoma-based Northern Pacific Corp. is doing the work at properties outside the advisory area where the contamination is not thought to have reached the mains. The firm is about halfway through its contact to replace about 90 service lines, according to the city.

The service lines are where some of the worst contamination has been discovered in the system.

Efforts to isolate the contamination combined with weekly flushing of the system appear to have helped reduce the contamination level to below regulatory limits of 1 part per billion.

“The data continues to look good,” said Jennifer Burke, the city's deputy director of water and engineering resources.

Despite that progress, the city has discovered three streets in the advisory area where benzene has continued to return even after flushing.

The streets in question are Foxtail Court, Stony Oak Court and Bluesage Court.

The benzene is believed to have originated from plastic water pipes that burned in the intense heat. Though benzene levels are low, hovering around 0.5 parts per billion, the continued presence of the cancer-causing contaminant suggests it has been absorbed by the water mains serving the three streets. The likely culprit is the rubber gaskets that seal the mains together, according to the city.

Given that a contractor specializing in underground work was already working in the area, the city decided to expand the Terracon contact to include replacement of the mains on the three streets.

The work will be more disruptive than replacing service lines, and involve trenching in the streets. The additional work will push the project into September.

The city plans to begin intensive water sampling soon to confirm that the replacement of the service lines has resolved the problem.

“If the data continues to hold, we may not need to do any more replacement work,” Burke said.

The city is planning to hold a special public hearing on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. to discuss the progress on the water contamination issue, as well as the possibility of lifting the water quality advisory that has cautioned residents of the 13 homes in the area against drinking the water since shortly after the fires.

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Water pressure report delayed

City officials have delayed the release of a report about the performance of the water system during the Tubbs fire, which destroyed 3,100 homes in the city. Firefighters faced significant challenges fighting the fire in Fountaingrove because of limited or nonexistent water pressure. The reasons for the pressure loss, including how full the water tanks were at the time of the fire and how backup generators performed, have not been released by the city despite months of requests by The Press Democrat.

Ben Horenstein, director of Santa Rosa Water, has previously said the report would be ready in early August. More recently Horenstein said the report remains in draft form and was not ready for public release.

Last week, Horenstein said the City Council and Board of Public Utilities would hold a study session on Sept. 7 to discuss the findings.

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PG&E postpones work

The expansion of the water line replacement work to include the mains has forced Pacific Gas & Electric to postpone some of its work in the area.

The utility needs to replace much of its underground conduit near Fir Ridge Drive, Fairway Knoll Lane and South Ridge Drive.

The work requires significant effort to dig up the roadway, making coordination with the city's water main replacement project challenging.

“It's a bigger construction project to dig four feet down, install the conduit and then pull the cable through the conduit,” PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said.

The delay will push PG&E's work into September and October, but is still expected to be completed by the end of the year, she said.

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New apartments open

The rebuilding process in Fountaingrove continues to lag other parts of the city such as Coffey Park, which is further ahead in the rebuild process in part because of the similarity of the home styles and lot sizes.

The total rebuilding applications in Fountaingrove and Hidden Valley have increased to 300, up 22 percent over the previous month. Building permits issued increased to 169, a 60 percent increase. And total homes under construction rose to 101, a 40 percent increase over the prior month.

Despite all that progress, none of the 1,400 homes in Fountaingrove destroyed in the Tubbs fire have finished the rebuilding process.

While no new homes have been rebuilt, a large new apartment called Canyon Oaks held its grand opening last week.

The 96-unit project on Thomas Lake Harris Drive, owned by Gallaher Homes, was under construction at the time of the fires and survived. The three-story complex, which has a clubhouse and pool, bills itself as a luxury apartment with views of oak-studded hills and the Fountaingrove Golf Club. The units range from 734 to 1,446 square feet, with rents ranging from $2,245 for a one-bedroom apartment to $3,895 for a three-bedroom unit, according to internet listings.

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