Wells Near SOS Test OK; Trace of New Taint Found

Water samples taken earlier this month from private wells near the Space Ordnance Systems explosives plant at Agua Dulce showed no significant chemical contamination, state water-quality officials said Monday.

But traces of trichloroethylene, a solvent that had not been detected two years ago in wells in the area, were found in one of five wells tested this month, according to data presented to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Board staff members said in a written report that they will re-sample the well to confirm the presence of the trichloroethylene, or TCE, which is a suspected cancer-causing agent in cases of long-term exposure.

Under Hazard Level

The TCE level in the water, however, was less than one-half part per billion--or less than one-tenth the level the state says may be hazardous.

The tests also found very low levels of freon in some of the wells, which also had trace amounts of freon in them when last tested by the water-quality agency in 1984.

“Things are pretty much the same as we found them in 1984,” said John Lewis, a water-resource control engineer with the regional water board, which resumed testing of the wells earlier this month in response to pleas from several neighbors of Space Ordnance, or SOS.

The 1984 testing was conducted after health officials charged SOS with violating hazardous-waste laws at its Agua Dulce facility, known as the Mint Canyon plant, and at its Sand Canyon plant near Newhall.

SOS eventually pleaded no contest to 10 misdemeanor violations of hazardous-waste laws and paid a $300,000 fine.

Tests by company consultants found pollution of ground water beneath both plant sites, but the consultants said that relatively small amounts of contamination had seeped off the site toward wells of neighboring property owners.

The company now is waiting for state health officials’ approval of a plan to clean up polluted soil and ground water beneath the plants, at an estimated cost of $2.7 million.

SOS also faces a number of lawsuits, including one by Carl and Pat Allen, in whose well the trace of TCE was found.

The Allens contend that contaminated ground water from the Mint Canyon plant caused liver damage in one of their horses and killed fish in a farm pond.

“We’ve had too many problems that clean water would not present,” Pat Allen said Monday. She said she was not completely reassured by the very low level of TCE, because levels may vary according to ground-water conditions or the depth from which a sample is taken.

Alan E. Opel, director of environmental affairs for TransTechnology Corp. of Sherman Oaks, the corporate parent of SOS, said the TCE “detected in the Allen well is of concern, because we haven’t seen it before.” But the amount is so low that it appears there has still been “no significant off-site migration,” Opel said.

SOS maintains that it never used TCE or freon at the Mint Canyon plant, so that the presence of those chemicals in nearby wells is the fault of somebody else.

Shared Facilities

SOS has shared both the Mint and Sand Canyon plant sites with other aerospace and defense firms that also have used chemical solvents.

Although the company has pledged to put up the money to clean up both sites, it also has said it will seek reimbursement from other firms that may have contributed some of the pollution.

Water quality board officials agreed last month to periodically sample private wells near the Mint Canyon plant after SOS agreed to pay for the testing. Lewis said the testing will involve about 15 wells in all.

Opel said SOS, in turn, will ask other companies to help finance the wells’ testing as part of the overall ground-water cleanup.