Plans by L. A. to Clean Up Tainted Wells Lag Behind

In 1980, traces of chemical solvents were discovered in San Fernando Valley water wells that furnish 15% of the Los Angeles water supply.

A possible contaminant source was evident immediately. In the North Hollywood area, scores of industrial and commercial firms still relied on septic tanks or cesspools to dispose of waste, despite the availability of city sewers and proximity of tainted wells.

The possible link between the well pollution and ground disposal was strengthened in 1982, when tests by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on waste from a dozen septic systems in the area turned up some of the same chemicals found in nearby wells.

The following year, a lengthy report by the DWP urged a series of steps to safeguard the drinking water supply, including a ban on ground disposal by Valley businesses. The report noted that the rising cost and shrinking number of legal sites made septic disposal of toxic waste a growing temptation.

Wells Added to Cleanup List

By 1984, tainted ground water had invaded more wells. The DWP well fields--along with neighboring ones operated by Burbank, Glendale and the Crescenta Valley County Water District--were added to the federal Superfund list of priority toxic cleanup sites. The fields were polluted by trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), which are believed to pose a small risk of cancer under conditions of long-term exposure.

But it was late 1985 before the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance to force Valley businesses to abandon septic tanks where sewers were available.

And only now--six years after the initial discovery--are city officials preparing to mail notices giving businesses with access to sewers one year to hook up.

Phasing out septic systems is something “you just don’t do . . . overnight,” said City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents portions of North Hollywood and Van Nuys. “Our form of government just doesn’t move that quickly, even in the most serious areas.”

Atmosphere of Uncertainty

It is unknown how much of the problem stems from septic discharge or other causes, such as leaks in buried storage tanks and piping, accidental spills or deliberate dumping of chemicals.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty, steps by the city to choke off further pollution have lagged noticeably.

“It’s frustrating to see this city not be able to get its resources together to deal with the problem more effectively,” said Miriam Gensemer, a principal planner with the Southern California Assn. of Governments who has studied the Valley ground water problem.

For example, along with the ban on septic tank use, the city has started a companion seven-year program to extend sewers to commercial and industrial areas of the Valley that do not have them. But that effort has fallen behind schedule because there are too few design engineers for this and other projects.

‘Not an Accelerated Schedule’

The seven-year target was “not an accelerated schedule at all,” said one city public works official. “This particular program seems to get a lot of lip service.”

A top official in the city Bureau of Engineering said some sewer design work will be contracted out in an effort to catch up.

Other steps also await implementation. In response to a recommendation in the 1983 report and to state legislation, the City Council two years ago passed an ordinance to raise construction standards for buried chemical and fuel tanks, and to require that thousands of existing buried tanks be monitored for leaks. Although the law required tank owners to begin checking for leaks by Jan. 1, 1985, the city has yet to devise a plan for checking compliance.

Another recommendation in the 1983 report involved creation of a collection service for firms that generate small amounts of hazardous waste and might be tempted by high disposal costs to dump illegally.

The association of governments, which had no power to implement the idea, studied it in detail and handed off its recommendations to the city. Then the council’s Public Works Committee last summer referred the proposal to the Bureau of Sanitation for further study. Since then, membership on the public works panel has turned over completely and bureau officials said the project is not being actively pursued. A more limited approach, an educational program to encourage Valley businesses to properly dispose of hazardous waste, was recently announced by a group of public and private agencies.

‘Sense of Urgency’

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners--expressing “a sense of urgency” about the ground water problem--pledged $2.5 million to a pilot program to treat part of the polluted well water through aeration, a process that causes solvents in water to evaporate.

Deputy Mayor Tom Houston, Mayor Tom Bradley’s chief of staff, cited the aeration project as evidence of strong action by the city. But Houston said he was unaware that various proposals to protect the ground water had been kicked around for years.

‘Doesn’t Make Sense’

“It doesn’t make sense” to treat the water but not halt further ground water damage, Houston said. “It seems to me you’ve got to do both.”

The potential health risk from the tainted water is being controlled by shutting down highly contaminated wells and blending less-polluted water with clean supplies before delivery to customers.

But apart from health concerns, the ground water problem is a potential constraint on future water supplies. The Valley wells supply 15% of the city’s drinking water and a higher percentage during the summer. They also would be counted on more heavily in some situations--in the event of a drought or an unfavorable ruling in pending litigation over city water diversions from the Mono Basin.

Water Piped Out

Although the wells and contamination sources are in the Valley, Valley customers almost never get any of this water. Instead, it is piped over the Santa Monica Mountains, where it serves hundreds of thousands of customers during part of the year.

Of 73 DWP wells in the Valley, at least 40 at one time or another have shown TCE or PCE levels in excess of state advisory health limits.

TCE and PCE--which have been widely used as degreasers and dry-cleaning agents--have caused cancer in animals exposed to high levels and on that basis are suspected human carcinogens. For TCE, the state advisory health limit is 5 parts of the chemical per billion parts of water, while for PCE the advisory limit, or “action level,” is 4 ppb. These limits, while not legally binding, reflect concern that a person using solvent-laced water for many years may slightly raise his already considerable risk of some day getting cancer.

Pollution Seeping Into Wells

DWP officials say blending assures that water reaching customers on average is well below action levels.

However, tests have shown that polluted ground water is slowly seeping into more wells, complicating the blending effort. “We’ve been really manipulating our wells to try to keep our production up to what we needed in the summertime and keep the TCE levels below the state’s action level,” said Laurent McReynolds, DWP assistant chief engineer for the water system.

McReynolds said that although the ground water problem was discovered in 1980, it wasn’t until 1983 that officials “felt we had a fair understanding of even the extent of the contamination.”

Corrective Measures Slowed

Since then, he said, corrective measures have been slowed somewhat by uncertainty over the solvent levels that will be allowed under forthcoming EPA standards that will be legally binding.

The EPA’s proposed TCE standard is identical to the state advisory limit of 5 ppb, although some water utilities are arguing for a higher limit.

Meanwhile, the federal Superfund listing, a dubious distinction to begin with, has not yielded any federal money to plan and implement cleanup measures.

The DWP and EPA have negotiated a contract that will allow the city agency to carry out a $2.8-million Superfund study of the North Hollywood wells, as well as the polluted Burbank, Glendale and Crescenta Valley district wells to the east. The study will be aimed at pinpointing the location of major plumes of tainted water, which could then be intercepted before reaching wells.

Competing Bills

But competing bills before Congress that would extend the Superfund law have stopped the EPA from funding new Superfund projects.

Alarmed by the growing number of affected wells, however, the DWP is hoping to push ahead on its own with a pilot aeration project to treat some of the most-polluted ground water.

The treatment method involves pumping well water up an aeration tower and blasting it with air to accelerate the natural tendency of solvents to evaporate. The DWP hopes to be operating the project by the end of next year.

Aeration Tower

The aeration tower, which would be built on DWP property at 11845 Vose St., would be able to treat up to 2,000 gallons of water per minute, or roughly 3% of the amount supplied by the Valley wells each year.

The DWP has applied to the South Coast Air Quality Management District for an emissions permit for the tower, but the air district is waiting to hear from state health officials on whether vapors from the tower pose any health concern. Air district officials said they will schedule a public hearing in North Hollywood after receiving the state’s report.