Testing the waters

Nick Canila, a field tester for Geo-Monitor, INC., marks the time and location of a water sample in the Soap Mine Road neighborhood on Thursday morning while he purges the well's holding tank. He purges the tank, he said, in order to get a good quality

May 11, 2007 - 8:59AM Soap Mine residents check nitrate levels again By AARON AUPPERLEE Staff Writer BARSTOW — John Janson had never had his well tested. But with his sister planning to build a house on his lot in the Soap Mine Road neighborhood and concerns about property values on his mind, Janson decided it was time to see if he had clean water or not. “Why wouldn’t I want clean water?” he said. “The property value ain’t worth a doggone with the bad water in the back.” Janson and many other Soap Mine residents had their wells tested on Thursday to check for elevated levels of nitrates. Christina Byrne, a local resident, and Nick Canila, a field tester for Geo-Monitor, INC., took water samples from nearly 40 wells. Holding a small plastic bottle to each well’s spigot, Canila collected a couple of ounces of water, which were shipped off to the Clinical Laboratory of San Bernardino for testing. Before taking the sample, Canila drained the wells’ holding tanks. “We have to flush it out so we get a good quality sample from the table,” Canila said. A good quality water sample is important to the residents of Soap Mine Road. DPRA, an environmental consulting firm, recently questioned testing results provided to the city by a subcontractor, RGS, because of duplicate or near-duplicate results across several testing sites and numerous inconsistencies in the data. Canila said he follows strict quality-control guidelines. City Council member Joe Gomez asked the City Council to use the latest test numbers from the neighborhood to determine which residents might be eligible for free bottled water from the city if it decides to take action in the matter. Gomez said residents with nitrate levels above nine milligrams per liter should get bottled water. According to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, drinking water is considered polluted when it contains 10 mg/L of nitrates or more. In August 2006, 35 wells were tested in the Soap Mine Road neighborhood. Based on those results, 12 residences would qualify for the free water.