From pollution problem to scientific breakthrough: How a poisoned groundwater plume led to a key finding by a Chico State prof

From the Chico News & Review:

Todd Greene is an assistant professor of geology and environmental sciences at Chico State University. His campus office is filled with images of rock formations in the Sacramento Valley—along with preschool drawings by his daughter. These days he’s unusually excited. A breakthrough in Chico’s geological history is being made, he says enthusiastically.

Greene is now in possession of a set of intact core rock samples from the three geologic formations that underlie this part of the Sacramento Valley—the first samples of such high quality ever to be extracted. They promise to contribute greatly to better understanding of the exact boundaries of those formations—the Red Bluff, the Modesto and the Tuscan.

What makes the story especially interesting is the way the samples were obtained. The breakthrough is linked to a plume of toxic groundwater in south Chico known as the Skyway subdivision plume, after the small neighborhood along two streets off Hegan Lane whose drinking-water wells were contaminated by it.

After the plume was discovered in 2003, scientists from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control traced it back to the Smuckers juice plant on Southgate Avenue. That company also had been using water from the plume, but had been filtering out the toxins.

Read more from the Chico News & Review by clicking here.

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