More Tests Ordered for Refinery Site in Escondido

State health officials have ordered yet another study of the Chatham Brothers toxic waste site here to better determine the extent of ground contamination.

Angelo Bellomo, head of the department’s toxic substances control division, said Wednesday that the testing would take three to five weeks. The tests will tell whether immediate stop-gap or cleanup efforts are necessary for the health and safety of neighbors of the 10-acre site, in the 2200 block of Bernardo Avenue in the rural southwest part of town.

County health officials in December, 1981, discovered that the site was tainted by chemical residue from a refinery that recycled dry-cleaning fluids that brothers Thomas and Robert Chatham had operated for 40 years.

Subsequent testing showed traces of cancer-causing PCB, silver arsenic, chrome, zinc and barium --metals that could be poisonous if ingested.

Health officials have said there is no danger to residents near the site, although some area residents have since complained of illnesses that they believe can be attributed to the toxic wastes.

Bellomo said testing may begin as early as next week by a Pasadena firm, Tetra Tech Inc., at a cost of $10,000 to $25,000.

The site is 40th on the state’s Superfund cleanup list of toxic sites. The Superfund is administered by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to pay for cleanup of toxic waste sites around the country.

“We have some questions about some sites on the Superfund list, as to the nature and extent of the contamination,” Bellomo said. “Specifically, we want to find if there is need for immediate work at the site that we hadn’t anticipated. There may be something we’ll learn about the Chatham site that we didn’t know before, that will require us to move ahead quicker. That doesn’t mean we’d necessarily clean up the entire site immediately, but we can at least stabilize the endangerment.”

Tetra Tech will not only conduct new tests at the site but also will review and analyze tests done previously by the county and state health departments, he said.