Nearly a year after the Tubbs fire melted water pipes in Fountaingrove and contaminated sections of the area’s water system with benzene, the city is optimistic it will soon be able to notify residents the problem has been resolved.
The most recent tests made before another round of repairs showed only trace amounts of the cancer-causing chemical in the area’s water system, at levels under state-mandated safety limits, according to Jennifer Burke, the city’s deputy director of water and engineering resources.
Worrisome levels of benzene were also detected in some surrounding areas as far out as Coffey Park as the city attempted to find the mysterious source of the benzene, spurring additional attention and replacement of water lines.
Anticipating the test results will show the contamination problem has been resolved, the city is hosting a community meeting Wednesday night to explain its plans moving forward.
The water quality advisory could be lifted as soon as early October, Burke said.
That’s in stark contrast from prior concerns the entire water system would need replacing, at a cost estimated at more than $40 million earlier this summer.
The overhaul would need two years if done quickly, city officials said, putting a cloud over rebuilding efforts in the area.
Burke said the work cost roughly $8 million.
If that funding is not available, a bill authored by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, would steer FEMA mitigation dollars toward rebuild projects from the 2017 wildfires.
Once the water advisory is lifted, Burke said the city’s water department will continue benzene testing for at least a year to make sure residents are safe.

"Air quality data taken above ground, where businesses will operate, show that, scientifically, it is safe," Yasuma told AFP.
"What needs to be monitored is the trend of groundwater samples — whether it is going up or down or staying the same.
The world-famous Tsukiji market is due to close in October to make way for a transport hub for use during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The market, near the swanky Ginza shopping district, has long attracted tourists who flock to its traditional pre-dawn tuna auctions.
However, the market, which dates from 1935, is old and crumbling and does not conform to modern safety and sanitary standards.
Tourists walking its crowded alleys often remark on the stench of raw fish and crumbling walls.
The new market at Toyosu, around three kilometers to the east, offers modern sanitation and refrigeration.
But the move has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons including the discovery of soil contamination.
There is no plan to use groundwater at Toyosu and officials have covered soil with concrete and other materials.
But the Tokyo government is regularly monitoring air and groundwater samples for benzene and arsenic.

In the most detailed explanation yet of the unfolding water crisis, city officials outlined in a public meeting how they believe the water system serving 350 home sites in the devastated neighborhood became contaminated with a cancer-causing hydrocarbon, and just how complicated, costly and time-consuming its replacement may be.
The contamination problem has been known since November, and the city has been open in recent months that its investigation into the source was zeroing in on melting plastic pipes and other components of the water system.
Carol Ellen, 70, said she and her partner had already spent $60,000 in various architectural fees and other costs preparing to rebuild, only to learn recently from the city that it might not be possible.
“We are ready to begin building in May.
“Where does our water come from?” John Stratton, a Fountaingrove resident and engineer at Keysight Technologies said he relied on the city’s earlier “worst-case scenario” that a full replacement might take a year.
“What I see here today, it might be the commitment is to move out of state.” City officials said the water-system work would have to be done while other contractors were busy rebuilding homes in the area, complicating the overhaul.
But Stratton said city officials were kidding themselves.
City water officials, led by Ben Horenstein, director of Santa Rosa Water, outlined in detail how the city responded to the discovery of benzene in the system, leading to an investigation that has identified where it came from and how it got into the system.
Emma Walton, a water refuse engineer, explained that benzene, a hydrocarbon and a human carcinogen typically associated with gasoline, can leach out of plastics when heated to high temperatures.
Tests that showed that when burned materials were soaked in clean water, the water came away contaminated with benzene and other hydrocarbons.

Santa Rosa may be zeroing in on the cause of the contamination in the water supply of the devastated Fountaingrove neighborhood, but there are also troubling signs that the problem may extend beyond the immediate advisory area.
Since Jan. 24, when the city last released detailed test results, the city has found 58 additional instances of benzene in the drinking water in the Fountaingrove area.
The vast majority came from the 184-acre area north and south of Fountain Ggrove Parkway around Fir Ridge Drive, an area once home to 350 families.
Only 13 homes remain following the October wildfires.
Residents of the area have been under a strict advisory for months to not drink or boil the water while the city tries to find the source of the contamination and fix the problem, something that could cost upwards of $20 million if the area’s water system needs replacement.
The maximum containment level (or MLC) for benzene in drinking water in the state is 1 part per billion.
The first batch contained four test results showing benzene levels over 500 parts per billion, one of which was as high as 918 parts per billion.
But seven of those results were from outside the existing advisory area.
Six of those results were under 10 ppb, while the seventh was something of an outlier at 240 parts per billion, Horenstein said.
All the seven locations are located at burned home sites.