Chromium 6 water treatment facility to move

Specialized machinery and processes used for filtering out chromium 6 from drinking water are set to be relocated from a less contaminated well to a well that is more tainted by the cancer-causing agent.

The facility is currently housed at a well in a Ralphs distribution center at 1100 N. San Fernando Road and its move to a well at the Grayson Power Plant will likely save money in the future, said Ramon Abueg, chief assistant general manager for Glendale Water & Power. The Glendale City Council unanimously agreed to the move Tuesday.

Water from the Ralphs distribution center well is currently treated using the specialized methods for extracting chromium 6. It’s also blended with water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District, a process that helps trim the contaminant’s presence to 5 parts per billion, lower than the state’s maximum allowance of 10 parts per billion.

The Grayson area well, however, currently contains 100 parts per billion of chromium 6 in its unfiltered water — far more than at the Ralphs site — and needs much more blending, Abueg said.

“It requires more water usage to blend, so it costs us more to treat it,” he said.

The well at the Ralphs property can meet the 5 parts per billion requirement without the treatment facility, built in 2009, Abueg said.

The project is slated to be completed by April 2015 and will cost $268,993, which will be funded by the Glendale Respondents Group, a variety of corporations that were potentially responsible for groundwater contamination over the past several decades.

During the same meeting, council members also voted unanimously to extend a lease to keep operating two of its water extraction wells at the Ralphs distribution site by two years. The city owns and operates eight wells.