Sun-Land Garden Products | Industrial Agricultural Property, Watsonville, CA

Weber, Hayes and Associates was hired by Sun-Land Garden Products to conduct a Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).  The Phase I portion of this investigation revealed the following operations at this agricultural property in Watsonville, California:

  • Long-Term Fuel Storage and Dispensing
  • Long-Term Vehicle/Equipment Maintenance Operations
  • Long-Term Machine Shop
  • Long-Term, Open-Air Vehicle/Equipment Storage on Native Soils

A Phase II soil and groundwater sampling program was devised to address the conditions observed during the Phase I site reconnaissance and historical review.  The results indicated:

  • A single soil boring revealed a slightly elevated concentration of 1,2-dichloroethane (a lead scavenger found in gasoline) at a detection of 0.0081 mg/kg which slightly exceeded the conservative risk based Environmental Screening Levels (ESLs) of 0.0045 mg/kg.  All other constituents were detected at trace levels or were not detected. 
  • Concentrations of metals fell well below the conservative, risk-based ESL thresholds in all three composite samples, with the exception of Arsenic.  The low-level arsenic detections (< 2.1 mg/kg) were consistent with naturally occurring background concentrations. 
  • Groundwater from five of the nine borings contained low level detections of motor oil and diesel.  These detected concentrations were well below the California Regional Water Quality Control Board – Central Coast Region’s Water Quality Objective, (WQO) set at 1,000 parts per billion (ppb).

The combined Phase I/II report was submitted to the local regulatory agency in-charge, Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Services.  Santa Cruz County agreed that the results indicated that no further action was needed.