City Revokes 2 Sewer Permits of Water Firm

Two divisions of the water-purifying Arrowhead Corp. had their Los Angeles sewer use permits revoked Wednesday for dumping acid and paint sludge into the lines but were told that the order will be set aside if they straighten up by Aug. 6 and pay for the damage.

Attorneys for Arrowhead Industrial Water and Arrowhead Puritas Inc. did not argue with investigators who told the city’s Board of Public Works that high levels of acid had been dumped into sewers in the East Washington Boulevard area and that paint sludge had been put into a sewer line near East 20th Street.

The lawyers said the companies had not had time to check the samples taken by the city over a three-week period but told the board that waste disposal methods had been extensively revamped since July 11, when the plants were checked by the City-County Toxic Strike Force.

“Why did it take a raid by our office to make you do what you should have been doing in the first place?” board President Maureen A. Kindel wanted to know.

Good Citizens

Arrowhead attorney Stephen Taylor said: “We’re very conscious of being good citizens. We don’t want this to ever happen again.”

The strike force, made up of Los Angeles police officers, district attorney’s investigators and public works officials, found that the Puritas plant at 1584 East 20th St. had been dumping paint sludge from an assembly line used to refurbish old water coolers, clogging a sewer main and access manholes.

At the other plant at 1441 E. Washington Blvd., where heavy water softening equipment is serviced, acids were regularly dumped into the sewers, the investigators found. Photographs shown to the commission indicated that clay pipes were reamed out and concrete lining manholes was dissolved.

The investigators contended that the amount of corrosion indicated that the dumping had been going on for well over a year and perhaps as long as five years.

Kindel said later that the case shows that the city’s industrial waste ordinance, although strengthened about two years ago, still is not tough enough.

Charge Expenses

“About the only thing we can do is revoke the (sewer) permit and charge expenses,” she said. “The city ought to be able to fine them too.”

Although a spokeswoman for the board said the district attorney’s office is still looking into possible criminal pollution charges against Arrowhead, Kindel noted that “for that, you have to prove intent.”

She added, “A company like this should have the latest, state-of-the-art equipment.”