Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Cleanup on Sweetwater Marsh

Farmers, gunpowder manufacturer, heavy industry fouled wetland

Wildlife and migratory birds in particular are vulnerable to contaminants in Sweetwater Marsh.
Wildlife and migratory birds in particular are vulnerable to contaminants in Sweetwater Marsh.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Tuesday (December 5th) unveiled its plan to clean up three areas in the Sweetwater Marsh, bayfront land north and south of the boundary between National City and Chula Vista contaminated by gunpowder manufacturers, a dump, farmers, and a number of other uses that started in the 1800s.

The old gunpowder plant that gave the landform its name

Each of the areas has different contaminants, and Fish & Wildlife staff and contractors have extensively studied and sampled the areas before coming up with plans for each that include soil removal and groundwater management. The federal agency held public meetings to seek the community's comments on current plans to remediate the contaminated sites within the marsh and to get the word out on the plan's comment period, which ends December 15th.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The goal is to get to a clean soil base for restoration of the coastal wetlands whose contaminants do particular harm to migratory birds. Much of the proposed cleanup involves removing soil that's contaminated with lead, arsenic, cadmium, and other metals, perchlorate and dioxins, and old-school pesticides like DDT. The dangers of lead and arsenic are widely known; perchlorate easily dissolves in water and, in humans, is connected to thyroid disease including cancer.

The sites are part of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, home to endangered, threatened, and near-threatened species including the light-footed Ridgway's rail, western snowy plover, and California least terns, as well as salt-marsh bird's beak (a rare plant species). The good news is that most of the contamination is in the surface soil, and most of that was added on top as fill and hasn't contaminated the native soil beneath.

The feds estimate the total cost of the three cleanups at around $18 million. It will involve trucking about 70,000 cubic yards — about 3200 dump-truck loads — of contaminated soil from the sites. That the contaminants are mostly in the shallow topsoil is in keeping with the sites' histories, according to wildlife refuge project manager Andy Yuen.

Gunpowder Point has the most interesting history: it was once home to the world's largest gunpowder component plant and remains the site of Chula Vista's largest and longest burning fire, according to historical accounts.

During World War I, the leading producers of potash used in gunpowder — the Germans — stopped supplying the British with gunpowder. U.S. entrepreneurs jumped into production by building a plant that extracted gunpowder precursors, acetone and potash, from kelp. The Hercules Powder Company opened in 1916, with 1400 workers and a 1200-foot pier off the point to unload kelp harvested up the coast as far as Santa Barbara.

The plant produced more than 45 million pounds of cordite before it shut down in 1920. Within a few months, a company that squeezed oil from cotton-seed hulls took its place and operated on the point for a decade. San Diego Oil Products closed briefly in 1923 after burning down. The company rebuilt and reopened in months. Over time, a variety of kelp-harvesting businesses came and went as tracts of land became citrus groves.

By World War II, much of the land was leased for farming, including land leased to Japanese families who were held in U.S. internment camps during the war. The tomato greenhouse on the land was eventually featured in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, filmed without the farmers' permission. The feds bought the land in 1988 as part of a lawsuit settlement to mitigate for constructing Interstate 5. Today, Gunpowder Point is empty of buildings and ripe for remediation.

In the '60s and '70s, a dump sited near current F and G street wetlands created high levels of lead and chromium.

Nearby, the cleanup of Paradise Marsh and part of Sweetwater Marsh is mainly about “burn ash.” The area north of the Sweetwater flood-control channel was once home to Davies Dump (1920s–1950), where people brought trash from National City, Chula Vista, and San Diego. What couldn't be reused or sold as scrap was burned, and the ash was plowed into the marsh, according to historical reports. The state bought land in 1949 for I-5, and the old Davies Dump was part of the purchase.

The third area slated for cleanup is the F & G street marshes, which were used as an authorized dump between 1964 and 1975 as roads and industries were built nearby. In one area, the soil and construction rubble dumped there showed levels of lead and chromium high enough to be classified as hazardous waste, according to consultant reports.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Holiday Guide – like none other

Candle-making, tree lighting, pajama jam
Next Article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Wildlife and migratory birds in particular are vulnerable to contaminants in Sweetwater Marsh.
Wildlife and migratory birds in particular are vulnerable to contaminants in Sweetwater Marsh.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Tuesday (December 5th) unveiled its plan to clean up three areas in the Sweetwater Marsh, bayfront land north and south of the boundary between National City and Chula Vista contaminated by gunpowder manufacturers, a dump, farmers, and a number of other uses that started in the 1800s.

The old gunpowder plant that gave the landform its name

Each of the areas has different contaminants, and Fish & Wildlife staff and contractors have extensively studied and sampled the areas before coming up with plans for each that include soil removal and groundwater management. The federal agency held public meetings to seek the community's comments on current plans to remediate the contaminated sites within the marsh and to get the word out on the plan's comment period, which ends December 15th.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The goal is to get to a clean soil base for restoration of the coastal wetlands whose contaminants do particular harm to migratory birds. Much of the proposed cleanup involves removing soil that's contaminated with lead, arsenic, cadmium, and other metals, perchlorate and dioxins, and old-school pesticides like DDT. The dangers of lead and arsenic are widely known; perchlorate easily dissolves in water and, in humans, is connected to thyroid disease including cancer.

The sites are part of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, home to endangered, threatened, and near-threatened species including the light-footed Ridgway's rail, western snowy plover, and California least terns, as well as salt-marsh bird's beak (a rare plant species). The good news is that most of the contamination is in the surface soil, and most of that was added on top as fill and hasn't contaminated the native soil beneath.

The feds estimate the total cost of the three cleanups at around $18 million. It will involve trucking about 70,000 cubic yards — about 3200 dump-truck loads — of contaminated soil from the sites. That the contaminants are mostly in the shallow topsoil is in keeping with the sites' histories, according to wildlife refuge project manager Andy Yuen.

Gunpowder Point has the most interesting history: it was once home to the world's largest gunpowder component plant and remains the site of Chula Vista's largest and longest burning fire, according to historical accounts.

During World War I, the leading producers of potash used in gunpowder — the Germans — stopped supplying the British with gunpowder. U.S. entrepreneurs jumped into production by building a plant that extracted gunpowder precursors, acetone and potash, from kelp. The Hercules Powder Company opened in 1916, with 1400 workers and a 1200-foot pier off the point to unload kelp harvested up the coast as far as Santa Barbara.

The plant produced more than 45 million pounds of cordite before it shut down in 1920. Within a few months, a company that squeezed oil from cotton-seed hulls took its place and operated on the point for a decade. San Diego Oil Products closed briefly in 1923 after burning down. The company rebuilt and reopened in months. Over time, a variety of kelp-harvesting businesses came and went as tracts of land became citrus groves.

By World War II, much of the land was leased for farming, including land leased to Japanese families who were held in U.S. internment camps during the war. The tomato greenhouse on the land was eventually featured in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, filmed without the farmers' permission. The feds bought the land in 1988 as part of a lawsuit settlement to mitigate for constructing Interstate 5. Today, Gunpowder Point is empty of buildings and ripe for remediation.

In the '60s and '70s, a dump sited near current F and G street wetlands created high levels of lead and chromium.

Nearby, the cleanup of Paradise Marsh and part of Sweetwater Marsh is mainly about “burn ash.” The area north of the Sweetwater flood-control channel was once home to Davies Dump (1920s–1950), where people brought trash from National City, Chula Vista, and San Diego. What couldn't be reused or sold as scrap was burned, and the ash was plowed into the marsh, according to historical reports. The state bought land in 1949 for I-5, and the old Davies Dump was part of the purchase.

The third area slated for cleanup is the F & G street marshes, which were used as an authorized dump between 1964 and 1975 as roads and industries were built nearby. In one area, the soil and construction rubble dumped there showed levels of lead and chromium high enough to be classified as hazardous waste, according to consultant reports.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Holiday Guide – like none other

Candle-making, tree lighting, pajama jam
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader