The two soil vapor extraction wells located on the Village Food and Fuel site (Shell station) have been decommissioned and abandoned.
On Oct. 10, Robert Manning, president of R.M. Environmental Inc. of Calimesa, wrote the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health confirming the action.
The wells were filled with hydrated bentonite chips and then covered in 3 feet of concrete. Waste material was removed from the site and none remains, Manning said in his correspondence.
This is the second set of SVE wells on the Hill to be abandoned at the direction of the Department of Environmental Health. The wells proximate to the Pine Cove Market site were abandoned this spring.
Some monitoring will continue at this site and across Highway 243 near the Chevron station.
Several hydrocarbons continue to be detected at that site, including methyl-tertiary-butyl ethane, which was identified in four of the monitoring well sites, but its concentrations have decreased since June samplings.
Samples from two monitoring wells contained no hydrocarbon compounds.
RME is monitoring at the Chevron site, too. The latest recommendations to the county were to use exploratory borings to determine the vertical and lateral extent of drainage. Also, SVE might be initiated at this site.
J.P. Crumrine can be reached at [email protected].
