Left at Prospector’s Acton Home : Stored Chemicals Didn’t Taint Water, Tests Show

Toxic chemicals stored in about 190 containers removed from the former home of an Acton prospector apparently have not poisoned local water supplies, county officials said Wednesday.

Releasing the results of extensive tests of water taken from the private well nearest the home and a larger county-owned well about 200 yards to the south, officials from the county health and waterworks departments said they found no sign of toxic contamination.

Residents of the rural community at the northeastern edge of Los Angeles County have anxiously awaited the test results since sheriff’s deputies discovered on Feb. 9 that former resident Leslie Lynch had littered his yard with tons of potentially lethal chemicals.

Lynch, who sold the house about a year and a half ago, apparently poured the chemical waste down a 12-foot pipe in his yard. Ground water is only six to eight feet below the surface in the area.

County officials say they are not sure what was stored in the barrels, which were removed by a private waste disposal firm hired by the county. Generally, the containers held flammable liquids, caustics, acids and oxidizers.

No Mercury or Arsenic

Joe Karbus, director of occupational health and radiation hazard management for the county Department of Health Service, said water taken from a private well near the home showed no trace of mercury or arsenic, two chemicals frequently associated with prospecting.

Karbus said the water had acceptable trace levels of silver, nickel, cadmium, chromium, mercury, copper and other toxic chemicals.

Karbus said the case will be referred to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

Officials have said the water tests will continue on a weekly basis.