Community Water Company

Water Quality Data

Wells 5, 6, 7, 8

The water quality of Well 7 and Well 8 began to deteriorate at an escalated rate after 1995. The pollution of the water source, the Santa Cruz Aquifer, had already been carefully documented in a report by a detailed report of mining operations in the Tucson Basin in 1983. [�Ground-Water Monitoring in the Tucson Copper Mining District Report and Detailed Recommendations� by the Pima Association of Governments and Upper Santa Cruz Basin Mines Task Force.] At that time, there was enthusiastic support from the GV community to do something about the situation. Unfortunately, little or nothing was done through the late 1980�s and 1990�s because in 1987 when ADEQ took over, it did not require existing mines to obtain an aquifer protection permit immediately�but gave them a waiver of 17 years to come up to ADEQ standards (ADEQ standards are "no further deterioration of the aquifer"!). This waiver ignored the fact that the above report, which was a lengthy and costly project, recommended changes in the mining system due to the high levels of pollution in the aquifer. Unfortunately, during these 17 years, the water quality has continued to deteriorate, until the TDS and sulfate levels on two of the wells, 7 and 8, has reached twice the level recommended by the EPA.

Solution: Arizona adopt the levels recommended by the EPA as law so that the pollution is curtailed before the water becomes undrinkable.

EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water Regulations

Even though Wells 5 and 6 have lower levels of TDS and Sulfate than the two wells that are located exactly in the plume, please note that at certain times the TDS and Sulfate levels of these �uncompromised wells had spikes in the data between 1995 and 1999. Note the numbers annotated in red. These dates correspond with the worse spills of sulfuric acid leaching materials on site at Phelps Dodge Sierrita mine, then Cyprus Sierrita mine. This is evidence that the leach material in large quantities can spread out past the normal plume and contaminate a larger portion of the Aquifer.

The readings from Wells 7 and 8 that have been compromised by seepage from the Phelps Dodge Sierritas Mine tailings pond. The waste from copper extraction is highly toxic. See

Community Water

Well 7

Drilled 6/82

Year	Hardness	Calcium mg/l	Magnesium mg/l	Sulfate	Arsenic mg/l	TDS	Alkalinity	pH
1982		35	4.6	23	.01	253	185	7.9
1983	110	36	5.1	11	<.01	200		7.7
1985	(11.0)	68.93	4.03	--		263		7.5
1987*				44-49		240-280
1988				68		300
1989*				66-80		80-350
1990*				70-88		290-390
1991*				62-74		280-300
1992*	128	43	5.0	58-68	.01	289-290	140	7.6
1993*				56-78		270-303
11/10/1993**				148		485
1994*	67	170	6	54		270
1995*	373	121	16.8	61.9-80.6	.007-.013	242-305	145
1996*	--	--	--	71.1-284	--	172-344
1997**		--	--	98-146	--	306-448
1998*	--	--	--	154-284	.011	496
1999*	327-428	113-145	11-16	242-461	--	528-694
2000*	442	152	15	380-403	--	640-827
2001*	431	146	16	374-428	.011	734-817
2002*	462	157	17	436-470	.006-.009	817-856
2003	507	170	20	505	.007	900

Note 1:

* In some year, more than one test was performed, therefore, the high and low values on all tests are given.

** On this test date, there were unusual readings, so they were separated out.

Note 2:

The high readings in red can be correlated with �Hazardous Material Incident� reports from Phelps-Dodge Sierrita mine.

See Hazardous Material Incident Logbook.

Community Water Company

Well 8

Drilled 7/94

Year	Hardness	Calcium mg/l	Magnesium mg/l	Sulfate	Arsenic	TDS	Alkalinity	pH
1994*	146	46.7-70	7.14	59.8-94	.011 - .045	286	166
1995*	160	59.96	4.33	138	.013 - .015	396-422	125
1996*				131-374		376-546
1997*				233-337		564-728
1998*				324-553	.012	603-873
1999*	381-502	131-170	13-19	316-578		636-884
4/12/99**				820		1280
2000*	521	179	18	390-456		704-880
2001*	488	164	19	428-479		780-896
2002*	488	166	18	475-487	.007 - .015	776-922
2003	565	190	22	547	.011	956
2004	587		22	502	.010	952		7.18

Data from Wells 5 & 6 on the east side of the aquifer that have not been compromised by Phelps Dodge plume�at least, not yet—note the red letters of unusual readings that can be correlated with "Hazardous Material Incidents", that is spills of Sulfuric acid leaching solution, at Duval/Sierrita mine site! See Hazardous Material Incident Logbook.

Community Water Co.

Well 5

Drilled 12/73

Date	Hardness mg/l	Calcium �mg/l	Magnesium mg/l	Sulfate	Arsenic mc/l	TDS	Alkalinity	ph	HCO3
4/7/80	266	87	12	148	<.01	--	178	7.7
3/14/83	237	77	11	132	<.01	430	170	7.9
6/18/85	11.1 g/gal	60	9.5	86	--	512		7.3	264
10/14/85		73.3	11.22	--	--	598
2/02/89	270	91	11	130	<.01	520	210	7.7
1990?				170	.005-.008	530
1991	No tests				--
1/14/92	241	80	10	120	<.01	450	180	7.6
11/1/93		73.3	11.22	60.7	--	294
1994				118-132	--
1995	364	118	16.4	120-144	.005-.008	386-557	212	7.51
1996	--	--	--	122-181	--	476-544
1997	--	--	--	101-150	--	350-663
1998	334	112	13	109-160	.009	432-652
1999	291	�97	12	121-162	--	360-594
2000	314	104	13	130-148	--	428-532
2001	226	�74	10	109-128	.009	402-494
2002	233	�77	10	116-126	.007-.009	418-446
(4/8/02)					(.013)
2003	No longer active

Community Water Company

Well Number 6

Drilled 1978

Year	Hardness	Calcium�� mg/l	Magnesium� mg/l	Sulfate	Arsenic	TDS	Alkalinity	pH
1993				63.6		222
1994
1995*				55.7-63.3	.007	266-304
1996*				52.7-66		263-326
3/13/96**				100		520
1997*				58-63		262-272
1/13/97**				73		572
1998*				53-66	.012	244-398
1999-qtr1*	152	51	6	61-98		236-328
qtr 2-4*	269	86	13	96-136		333-410
2000*	226	74	13	58.2-80		251-335
2001*	137	47	6	50.2-54.8		263-280
2002*	137	45	6	55.2-57.6	.012-.015	253-268
2003	149	49	6.4	53	.014	277
2004	144		6	52	281	281		7.17

Note 1:

* In some year, more than one test was performed, therefore, the high and low values on all tests are given.

** On this test date, there were unusual readings, so they were separated out.

Note 2:

The high readings in red may be correlated with �Hazardous Material Incident� reports from Phelps-Dodge Sierrita mine.

 See Hazardous Material Incident Logbook.