SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A news summary : The Local Review / DEVELOPMENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Shell Must Continue Providing Water
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SANTA MONICA — The Shell Oil Co. and some of its affiliates were ordered Wednesday to continue providing water for Santa Monica residents that was lost to contamination from leaking service station fuel storage tanks.
Laurie Williams, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency--which joined the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control District in handing down the order--estimated the annual cost of the replacement water at about $3.2 million.
In the early 1990s, seven local water wells had to be shut down after tests showed that they had been contaminated by a gasoline additive that had been leaking from tanks at a nearby service station and from other sources.
The wells had provided about 6 million gallons of water a day, or roughly 45% of the city’s water.
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