1. Hinckley, California Water Contamination
By: Joie Smiley, Vanessa Barlow, Chyane Howard, and Savannah Odens

2. Hinckley, California Water Contamination
Hinckley, California’s main water source was contaminated by the gas company PG&E. they dumped close to 370 million gallons of wastewater into unlined wastewater ponds. The wastewater contained chromium 6 which causes cancer, birth defects, and other health problems.

3. Hinckley, California

4. Type of Pollution
This pollution is point source pollution because we know the source. The source is PG&E gas company’s wastewater ponds.

5. How it impacted the local ecosystem
Although Hinckley is naturally very dry, crops and animals were dying, not due to the lack of water, but due to the toxic groundwater. Hinckley was a small farming community before the groundwater pollution.

6. How it impacted humans
It impacted humans by causing cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and circulatory and respiratory diseases. Because of the situation no one was moving in and everyone wanted to move out. PG&E offered to buy sellers homes because of the lack of buyers. They bought around 300 properties and the population decreased dramatically. Since there was almost no one left in Hinckley, the school shut down because it could not afford to stay open. The Houses that were bought by PG&E were being torn down and the whole town evacuated.
Students say goodbye on the last day of school at Hinckley school

7. Remediation Efforts PG&E spent over $750 million in clean up efforts
Planted alfalfa to help convert the chromium 6 into the micronutrient chromium 3.
Built concrete wall barrier to contain plume (section of soil containing point source pollution) and pump ethanol into the ground to convert chromium 6 into chromium 3

8. Protection Legislation
Pure chromium 6
Protection Legislation
PG&E can no longer use Chromium 6
After recognizing that it causes cancer, California established a maximum chromium 6 level of 10 parts per billion (ppb)
To put that in perspective, before cleanup the chromium levels were up to 580 ppb
The national standard is 100 ppb
The previous California standard (pre Hinckley contamination) was 50 ppb

9. Sources