Some drinking water in Santa Rosa remains undrinkable months after the North Bay fires, and pressure is mounting on the city’s water department to locate and control the cause.
“The city is very interested to get people back and rebuilt into their homes, of course, as soon as possible,” says Bennett Horenstein, the City of Santa Rosa’s Water Director.
Then its tests found benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer.
“This contamination is certainly attributable to the fire,” says Horenstein, “specifically the heating and burning of different plastic components in the system.” Initial sampling found benzene in the Fountaingrove water main, the local service components, and the lines that connected to destroyed properties.
The water lines in that part of Santa Rosa lost pressure in the fire, which officials say could have helped benzene to spread further when equipment melted.
Initial samples found 87 instances where that limit was exceeded, mostly, but not exclusively, in the Fountaingrove neighborhood.
Horenstein stressed that the benzene in areas outside Fountaingrove was less pervasive, and had not been found in the city’s mains.
Still, water department investigators now are looking for melted plastic components, benzene, and explanations in Coffey Park as well as Fountaingrove.
“We’re just seeing some, maybe 10 percent of these homes, have concerns with benzene.
But he acknowledges Santa Rosa’s problems may have implications for future fires in other cities.