County Law Will Prohibit Contamination of Water

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday directed the county counsel to draft an ordinance barring the discharging of contaminated water, and perhaps other pollutants, into the underground water table.

Supervisor Ralph B. Clark conceded that state and federal regulations already cover the matter but said a county ordinance would increase local control over the disposal of toxic materials and would be “sort of an insurance policy.”

Supervisor Roger Stanton also supported the proposal. He noted that state agencies did not inform the county that some treated water from the Stringfellow Acid Pits, in Riverside County, was going to be injected into the water table under Orange County.

Although water quality experts said the amount was small and would not be hazardous to drinking water, Stanton and fellow members of the joint board of the Orange County Sanitation Districts two weeks ago changed the Stringfellow disposal plan so that the treated waste water from the dump will be pumped into the ocean.

Clark, who proposed the ordinance, accepted Supervisor Bruce Nestande’s suggestion that the county counsel see if other contaminants could also be barred from the ground water system. Nestande said that “all kinds of folks” are storing gasoline and other contaminants “that can leach into the underground water system.”

The supervisors ordered the counsel to return with the proposed ordinance in six weeks.