The State Water Resources Board is giving South Tahoe Public Utility District $294,270 to help resolve the groundwater contamination issue near the Y.

The money will be used to conduct an engineering feasibility study of alternatives to remove Tetrachloroethylene or PCE from the groundwater. Tahoe Keys Water Company and Lukins Brothers Water Company are partners with STPUD in this process because their wells have been contaminated.

Chemicals once used in the dry cleaning business have been known to be contaminating the ground water in South Lake Tahoe since 1989, mostly at the Y where a dry cleaner used to operate. While different remediation measures have been tried, the plume is still detectable.

“Removal of PCE is necessary in order to both supply clean drinking water to customers in the area as well as preventing the further spread of the contaminant plume through the drinking water aquifer,” Richard Solbrig, general manager of South Tahoe PUD, told Lake Tahoe News.

The money is part of a $20 million allocation by the state to cleanup or prevent the spread of groundwater contamination to aquifers that serve as a source of drinking water. This is bond money from Proposition 1 that voters approved in November 2014.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report