Hacienda Heights : New Well Misses Deadline

It may be another two weeks before a new well is put in service to provide a source of uncontaminated water here, a spokesman for the San Gabriel Valley Water Co. said. The company had set a Nov. 1 deadline for completion of the well.

Drilling for an uncontaminated source of water began more than a month ago when traces of dichloroethylene (DCE), an industrial solvent, were found in the company’s City of Industry wells, he said. At the direction of the state health services agency, the water company notified about 5,300 customers on Sept. 30 that they should use bottled water for drinking and cooking. However, a few days later the state reversed its position and mailed notices to customers saying that the contaminant level was so low--less than 1.3 parts per billion--that any cancer risk would be almost impossible to calculate, health department officials said.

Although the new well has been drilled to a depth of more than 700 feet, installation of pumping equipment has not been completed, said Mike Whitehead, the firm’s executive vice president. In addition, the state Department of Health Services must take water samples from the well to certify its purity before water can be sold to the public, Whitehead said.

“We hope the (new) well will not be contaminated,” Whitehead said. “That’s why we drilled it--to provide good quality water for our customers.” He said the wells in which contaminants were detected are the sole source of water for the company’s Hacienda Heights customers living south of the Pomona Freeway and west of Hacienda Heights Boulevard.