Escondido

Saying that a hazardous waste site in Escondido could “easily be a toxic time bomb,” San Diego County Supervisor Paul Eckert called Tuesday for the county health department to test groundwater at the site for contamination.

Eckert said tests of the water beneath what was once a chemical distilling and reclamation operation owned by Thomas and Robert Chatham could provide the evidence needed to persuade state health officials to move the site higher up on their list of those needing to be cleaned up.

“Right now, we don’t even know how bad the problem is,” Eckert said. “The information collected up to this point is inconclusive at best.”

Gary Stephany, chief of the Health Services Department’s environmental health division, said his office would prepare a plan for the testing and a cost estimate.

That plan is expected to be completed by mid-October and will probably be submitted to the Board of Supervisors for approval, he said.