Pink Water Pollution and Rocketdyne: Space Rocket Testing in Northern Nevada

Abstract: From 1961 to 1963, Rocketdyne, North American Aviation’s aerospace division, acquired tens of thousands of acres of land north of Sparks, Nevada. Over the next decade, Rocketdyne tested rocket engines crucial to the Gemini, Apollo, and Saturn programs for the space race with the Soviet Union. After the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully landed Americans on the moon in 1969, public interest in the space program declined. In 1973, the majority of the Rocketdyne site was sold to McCulloch Properties, which initially planned a housing development named Palomino Valley. It ultimately subdivided the former test site into land parcels for sale to the public in 1975. New residents settled into quiet rural lives until 1989, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revised the standards for trichloroethylene (TCE) content in drinking water. New testing of groundwater revealed exceptionally high levels of TCE in some locations. The contamination resulted in lawsuits related to resident health problems and launched cleanup projects that have continued into the 21st century.