Where’s the poison? Renton’s Public Works Director should read Renton’s well field study

“Where’s the Poison? The battle of wits has begun.” A memorable scene from “Princess Bride”

I found a city response about the asphalt plant online, but it has not yet been spread very broadly.  I’m refraining from linking it at this time, because I’m not sure it deserves the high exposure it would get from my blog.  (I think it should be rescinded.)  But in case anyone has found it, here is my rebuttal. 

In a recent memo on the Asphalt Plant, Renton’s Public Works Director,  Martin Pastucha, addressed the existential risk of the Asphalt Plant poisoning Renton’s sole source aquifer, calling the risk “relatively low.”   Relative to what?  Is this the kind of confidence we should be basing the future of our city and  the health of our children and grandchildren on?

But it’s worse than that.  The Public Works Director based his vague non-assurance on a map of our “ten-year wellhead protection zone”, and relied on it being 1.75 miles away from the proposed asphalt plant. He implies, contrary to the data, that the water could never travel 9,200 feet through porous sand and gravel underground, even though Renton’s Maplewood Wells are downhill and sucking hundreds of millions of gallons of water per year– like giant drinking straws.

If Mr. Pastucha had ever bothered to read the report that formed the foundation of Renton’s “ten-year wellfield protection zone” he would have read this important statement:

“It is important to recognize that the aquifer limits shown in Figure 2-5 do not necessarily represent distinct boundaries that separate geologic materials containing groundwater. ”  This is followed by the explanation that “the aquifer appears to extend several miles upgradiant of the bedrock narrows (near Renton’s wells)”

Pages from Renton’s Wellfield Monitoring Study

Even if he didn’t read these important Renton reports, he should have read the State Department of Health’s guidelines on what the ten-year wellfield protection zone is and isn’t.  The Ten-year zone is not the only concern.  It’s bordered by the “Buffer Zone,” that includes “additional critical aquifer recharge areas requiring protection from contamination.”  Many Renton residents hope to live here longer than ten years.

Mr. Pastucha also casually dismisses the closure of Water District 90s wells, about 7000 feet upstream from Renton’s, saying “As to the wells being shut down, It is our understanding that the well facilities of KC Water District 90 are currently not in use because of quality of the water.”

These wells have been an important part of Fairwood’s infrastructure for many years, and it should ring urgent warning bells in Renton’s water utility if these wells have to close.  It certainly does not make the case that an asphalt plant on the shared aquifer is a good idea.

Furthermore, the closure of water District 90’s Wells significantly increases the risk for Renton, and alters our wells’ ten-year protection zone.

It’s freshman physics.  The Aquifer is an underground river flowing toward the lake.  When Water District 90s Wells upstream shut down, whatever pollutants they were going to extract will make their way downstream to Renton.  If Mr. Pastucha can’t figure it out from his schooling, he could have read it in Renton’s wellfield study:

Renton’s ten-year capture zone for downtown and maplewood wells (left) intersects with Water District 90’s ten-year capture zones (circles on right). When Water District 90 stops pumping due to contamination, nothing prevents the contaminants from flowing downstream into Renton’s capture zone.  The Asphalt plant would be under the letter “M” in Maple Heights Lake Desire (lower right).

Mr. Pastucha then goes on to repeat the fallacy that the on-site water treatment will get all the benzene, dissolved heavy metals and other toxins out of the water, even though King County’s Surface Water manual says it won’t.

Then he mentions a court case in which the court did not even evaluate most of the toxins because of a legal smoke and mirrors, where there were no conclusions drawn.

He also matter-of-factly implies that the asphalt plant is so routine that it doesn’t need an Environmental Impact Statement, even while the Renton Council is on record asserting that it most definitely should have one.

In Mr. Pastucha’s failure to track risks outside of our ten-year wellfield zone, he reveals he is not being vigilant about protecting Renton’s interests relative to other ongoing serious risks outside this zone like Cedar Hills Landfill, Cedar Grove Compost, the Olympic Pipeline, and tanker trucks on Highway 169.  These and other long-term threats to our water system were always carefully serveiled and managed by past Public Works directors, Mayors, and Councils.

While Mr. Pastucha wants us to trust his assertion that the risk of Renton losing 100-years of  investments in our  water system  is “relatively low,”  one should note that Mr. Pastuchs did not make any of these investments personally since he only became our Public Works Director in 2020, and he lives on the Olympic Peninsula.

While those of us in Renton were designing, paying for, and protecting our enviable water system that can handle 60 percent growth in residents and fight three fires simultaneously,  Mr. Pastucha was the Public Works Director in Santa Monica,  discharging raw sewage on the beach and getting his city in trouble with California’s Water Board.

The full text of the violation, which references repeated waste-water discharges and failures to get control of errant procedures, is available here

Instead of the Council eliminating the asphalt risk with a simple purchase,  you’re now  asked to decide whether you think you can trust Mr. Pastucha’s latest storytelling.  In one of his previous stories, the Mayor’s Plane Speak, he said that our airport closes when the tower closes, even though it’s a 24 hours airport.   So where do you think that asphalt poison is going?  Water District 90… Renton…. or both?