THE FLOOD OF 1978

By March of 1978, the Stringfellow Site received approximately thirty inches of rain that filled every pond to capacity. On March 6, 1978, the worst happened. The earthen dam (Dam #1) at the Stringfellow Site, was about to be overridden by water. James Anderson, the Water Quality Control Board Director, ordered the release of about one million gallons of contaminated water. Fearing that if Dam #1 failed, the Stringfellow Site would collapse and the holding ponds would flood into the Glen Avon community. Water laden with acids and thirty known carcinogens, flowed down Pyrite Street, under the Pomona Freeway, onto the Glen Avon Elementary School, and out to the Santa Ana Riverbed.