Orange : Metal-Finishing Firm Fined $2,500 for Spill

An Orange metal-finishing firm was fined $2,500 Friday by a state water quality board for the February spill of highly corrosive chemicals into the Santa Ana River.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board originally sought $5,000 in fines against Aerochem Inc. but accepted the company’s settlement offer because of its prompt corrective measures.

“They really wanted to put right what they did wrong,” Board Chairman Philip R. Maurer said in accepting the settlement offer at the board’s monthly meeting held in Riverside.

The spill occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 20, when thousands of gallons of a 10% sodium hydroxide solution overflowed trenches at the Aerochem plant on Batavia Street and flowed out the parking lot, down Taft Avenue and into a settling basin in the Santa Ana River.

The caustic solution, used to chemically etch metal parts, killed more than a dozen small fish in the river and damaged 166 parked cars. The problem was first discovered by a plant employee at 3:30 a.m., but city and county emergency crews were not called until 10 a.m.

A chemist with the county Environmental Management Agency said the plant chemist was originally notified at 7 a.m. that the solution was overflowing the trenches leading to a chemical treatment system at the site. But Nira Yamachika, a county environmental investigator, said the plant chemist went on to a meeting and did not look into the problem until after 9:30 a.m.

Plant officials blamed the spill on a pipe clogged with debris from recent rains.

James R. Bennett, executive officer of the tri-county board, commended Aerochem officials for their “responsible” actions in paying for the repainting of damaged vehicles and prompt installation of a more advanced chemical treatment system “with little coercion on our part.”

Board member Ira Calvert of Corona asked why any fine was being assessed at all if the firm responded so promptly to the toxic spill. Bennett responded that the situation should never have happened, adding, “With the state of technology, there is no excuse this day and age to have this type of situation occur.”