Rialto is ground zero for this plume of perchlorate contamination — one well with 10,000 ppb. (Remember, the Maximum Contaminant Level allowed in California is 6 ppb). Most wells in Rialto have two digit readings and several have three digit readings. Overall, perchlorate has been detected in 22 wells in and around the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Basin. This is one of the largest and most dense plumes in the United States. Rialto, like the surrounding water purveyors that also provide water to residents of Rialto, must serve clean, affordable, safe water. However the City of Rialto has another problem that is not shared by its neighboring water purveyors: as a general law city, Rialto is responsible for the health, safety and welfare of its residents and, as such, has a duty to do what it can to assure that the source of the contamination is fully remediated and the perchlorate is removed from the residents’ water basin forever at the expense of the polluters. The cost of such removal is currently estimated to be between $200 million and $300 million. It is Rialto’s goal that its ratepayers not be left with the responsibility to pay this massive clean-up cost.
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