State Testing Finds Wildomar Neighborhood Is Not Contaminated

After testing soil, soil gas and groundwater samples from specific locations within an allegedly toxic housing tract in Wildomar, state officials have announced preliminary findings show the neighborhood is safe.

Following more than a year of concerns by some residents of the Autumnwood community that their homes were making them sick, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Department of Toxic Substances Control released a statement today claiming there is no evidence of contamination.

The announcement follows testing of samples gathered last month by environmental contractor AMEC Environment and Infrastructure. The company gathered samples from specific locations within the Autumnwood housing tract including areas at Front Street, Pasadena Street, Protea Court, Palomar Street, Amaryllis Court, and Pink Ginger Court. According to DTSC, it oversaw the sample collections.

• No evidence of soil contamination;
• Volatile organic contaminants detected in soil gas were consistent with background or ambient levels throughout Southern California;
• Shallow groundwater was not a source of volatile organic contaminants;
• Volatile organic contaminants detected in soil gas do not pose a significant indoor air risk or hazard;
• Per DTSC’s "Vapor Intrusion Guidance," vapor intrusion is not occurring at the Autumnwood development; and
• Volatile organic contaminants detected in indoor air are not originating from the subsurface.

"While volatile organic contaminants were previously detected in indoor air quality samples at certain homes, our recent investigation indicated that these VOCs are not a result of contaminated soil, soil gas or groundwater beneath the homes in the Autumnwood development," the Dec. 11 DTSC statement read.

"The sampling results showed all detected metals were within normal metal soil concentrations or background concentrations," the DTSC continued. 

Test results from air and soil samples taken from the Autumnwood neighborhood earlier this year by South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) did not reveal significant contaminants, a DTSC official said following those findings. 

“Nothing in these sample results shows the need for additional sampling. Rather, the sample results are consistent with background levels found in the western United States,” said Jim Marxen, spokesman for DTSC.

However, some Autumnwood residents said independent and SCAQMD test results did reveal high levels of some chemicals and they wanted further testing from the DTSC. The agency balked, but in July residents traveled to Sacramento to make their case.

Penny Newman of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, a non-profit organization that advocates for citizens impacted by environmental hazards, has maintained something is very wrong in Autumnwood.

Previous test results show higher levels of various chemicals -- including chloromethane in some of the homes’ subslabs and higher levels of Total Dissolvable Solids in water, Newman said.

“There’s a combination of situations and conditions. It’s not just air, water or soil. There’s something unique to this tract,” she said.

Xonia Villanueva moved out of the Autumnwood tract because her family became sick. She's continued to seek answers because she says she doesn’t want others to become ill. She alleges her family is still suffering and others in the neighborhood are getting sick.

“We’ve been through a lot. We’ve been been sick and we’re getting sicker,” she said in October, maintaining that there have been deaths and autoimmune diseases diagnosed in Autumnwood.

Villanueva said she was "thrilled" that DTSC was conducting the November testing, but she said it was not enough. She wanted to see sampling at all 61 home sites in the Autumnwood tract. She also wanted to see long-term testing so that samples could be analyzed during the various seasons and weather conditions.

DTSC is presenting the recent preliminary findings to members of the Autumnwood community today. 

"The department is finalizing its review of the data and will meet again with community members in mid-January," the DTSC statement read. "A final report is expected by the end of January."