HINKLEY, San Bernardino County — October 24, 2026. California’s Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board continues to oversee the long-running contamination cleanup associated with PG&E’s former cooling-water practices at its natural-gas compressor station near Hinkley. The board’s official project portal now lists Investigative Order No. R6-2026-0014, which requires a feasibility study to evaluate cleanup levels for hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6. This is a regulatory information-gathering step, not evidence that groundwater cleanup is complete.
What the state says caused the contamination
The Lahontan Water Board’s Hinkley cleanup page describes how PG&E used chromium-6 in cooling towers at its compressor station between 1952 and 1966. Wastewater discharged to unlined ponds reached groundwater. The board describes a mapped contamination plume extending through a substantial part of the Hinkley Valley and oversees ongoing monitoring and remedial measures.
What the 2026 investigative order actually means
An order requiring a feasibility study asks the responsible company to evaluate technical options or levels under regulatory supervision. It should not be mistaken for a change already adopted to a drinking-water standard, a final cleanup remedy, a relaxation of existing legal duties or a finding that every private well is safe. The actual order is linked in the board’s Announcements section; residents concerned about the requirements should consult the signed order and subsequent agency correspondence.
How progress is documented
The board also posts periodic Status of Actions updates and maps showing the chromium plume through time. Its project page links to the State Water Board’s GeoTracker records database, which contains project filings and monitoring reports. Official map boundaries represent interpretations of sampled groundwater; they cannot be used on their own to certify the safety of a particular untested well or plumbing system.
What remains to be established
The state says its orders require PG&E to contain and clean up contamination. Hinkley residents still need to know how cleanup targets will be assessed, which monitoring results have changed and what protective measures apply to individual affected wells. Hinkley News has not performed independent sampling and is not issuing a drinking-water health advisory. The board’s site lists agency contact Amanda Lopez at amanda.lopez@waterboards.ca.gov or 760-241-7373 for questions.
Other High Desert reporting: Barstow News. For source documents, local reports and corrections, contact Hinkley News.
Primary source: Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, PG&E Hinkley Chromium Cleanup page and linked 2026 investigative order, reviewed October 24, 2026. No new health or individual-well safety determination is implied.
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