groundwater

The groundwater in the aquifer below the Santa Susana Field Lab is extensively contaminated with TCE, perchlorate, dioxins, and radioactive tritium. The Groundwater is regulated by the Department for toxic Substances Control (DTSC).

2025 groundwater Report

Lead, TCE, and radionuculides detected in groundwater in Q1 of 2025

GROUNDWATER FACTS

The Santa Susana Field Lab has an aquifer (groundwater) directly below it. DTSC claims the SSFL aquifer doesn’t impact local groundwater but EPA has questioned that assertion.

  • The SSFL groundwater is regulated by the DTSC. The SSFL surface water and NPDES are regulated by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

  • According to the Water Board, groundwater is difficult, costly, and extremely slow to remediate.

  • 500,000 gallons of TCE contaminate the SSFL groundwater, in addition to perchlorate, radionuclides, and other contaminates of concern.

  • Boeing’s Groundwater Covenant will last “in perpetuity” and allows the highly polluted groundwater under the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to remain polluted for “an indeterminate amount of time.”

GroundWATER

The groundwater at the SSFL is different than the surface water. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LARWQCB) is in charge of the contaminated surface water that runs off the SSFL during the rain, polluting local waterways and watersheds. But the surface water isn’t the only problem, the groundwater at the SSFL is an enormous problem, but it seems to get very little attention from the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) who oversees it.

Climate Change

Due to climate change's impacts, future generations of Californians might depend on the groundwater. Even if Boeing were to start aggressive groundwater treatment now, it could take over a century to complete. We owe it to future residents to make sure it’s clean and safe when they need the groundwater under the Santa Susana Field Lab.

Unlined Ponds

Several ponds exist at the SSFL; some are unlined, allowing contamination to potentially seep directly into the groundwater. In Boeing’s NPDES Permit, they are allowed to re-route contaminated rain runoff to into the unlined Silvernale and R-2 Ponds. The DTSC and Boeing have stated that the naturally existing clay prevents contamination from reaching the groundwater. However, PASSFL has strongly criticized this statement and has asked the LARWQCB to demand Boeing do a study in order to back up their statements with data.

Groundwater Talks and Tours

In 2024, the DTSC focused on the groundwater issues in a series of webinars and a site tour. The webinars were held “in cooperation” with the SSFL’s Responsible Parties: Boeing, NASA, and the Department of Energy, a blatant conflict of interest. Boeing’s experts introduce themselves as independent researchers, but in reality, they’ve been hired by Boeing and their bias was obvious.

Groundwater Tour Recap: Boeing’s Groundwater Plans

On Saturday, April 6th, 2024, residents were invited to go on a tour of the Santa Susana Field Lab to discuss the groundwater contamination. Here's Melissa Bumstead’s recap of Boeing’s presentation:

The cleanup option Boeing’s experts pushed the hardest for was natural attenuation which is literally doing nothing for centuries, which is obviously the cheapest and slowest option for cleaning the SSFL groundwater. How convenient for Boeing that their experts would recommend the cheapest option, even if it leaves our groundwater contaminated and Simi's drinking water at risk.

  1. Boeing's scientists showed us core samples from the SSFL and talked a lot about how they were preeminent experts on hydrology. I asked them to clarify their relationship with Boeing at which point they admitted they were paid consultants, but also educators too, and they claimed no conflict of interest. I found that hard to believe when one of the experts kept saying how "insignificant" the pollution at the SSFL is (there's a huge TCE plume, in addition to other contamination) and how it was a "mystery" how the groundwater got contaminated (decades of rocket engines tests and spills/leaks from nuclear reactors did it).

  2. Boeing's expert said that the complete cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Lab's groundwater would cost tax-payers a billion dollars and wouldn't we rather put that money towards schools, roads, and emergency services?  I reminded him that Boeing will pay for the groundwater cleanup on Boeing's property, not tax-payers, at which point he changed the subject.

  3. The Boeing experts told us that the contaminated groundwater isn't coming offsite or into the local seeps or springs. I told them that the pollution had been found offsite at the Brandeis Bardin campus well, at which point they said that there is some migration offsite and they haven't seen it at the seeps and springs because it might take a while longer for the contamination to reach them.

  4. The brought us to Boeing's Groundwater Extraction Treatment System (GETS) and told us how effectively it was cleaning groundwater at the SSFL. Jeni pointed out that the GETS hadn't been running for two years, at which point he told us that it was offline because it hadn't been doing a good job but they had every intention of turning it back on soon, once they figure out how to fix it.

Overall, I was shocked by the levity of Boeing's experts towards our groundwater's contamination. They left out important details and clearly had an agenda that will profit Boeing and not the public.

Joint Comment Letter to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, 2022: Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Committee to Bridge the Gap, Parents Against SSFL, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Joint Comment Letter to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, 2022: Heal the Bay, Los Angeles Water Keepers, Wishtoyo Foundation, Surfriders Los Angeles

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