65 Firms Told to Detail How They Handle Their Toxics

Federal and local officials have launched an investigation to determine the origin and effects of groundwater contamination in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said Tuesday.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power sent joint letters to about 65 companies and firms Monday, ordering them to submit details concerning methods used to dispose of hazardous waste, said EPA spokesman Terry Wilson.

“We have sent letters to potentially responsible parties who may have contributed to problems in the area,” Wilson said.

The companies included General Motors in Van Nuys, Lockheed-California in Burbank, the ITT control division in Glendale and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.

The state Regional Water Quality Control Board began a study of contamination in the Valley basin last year after preliminary tests led to the closure of more than 30 municipal water wells in North Hollywood, Burbank and Glendale. The wells were found to be contaminated by two industrial solvents, both believed to cause cancer.

Two Solvents

Since 1980, high concentrations of the two solvents, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, also called TCE and PCE, have been detected in water drawn from DWP wells in North Hollywood and Burbank.

In the worst case, PCE was detected at levels of 12,000 parts per billion parts of water. State limit is 4 parts per billion.

DWP prevented excessive levels of toxins from entering drinking supplies by closing the worst wells and blending clean water with water from less contaminated wells.

Water from Valley wells is piped to south Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, Silver Lake and the Hollywood Reservoir, supplying about 15% of Los Angeles’ drinking water, officials said.

The four-page letter sent Monday ordered the companies to submit information within 30 days about their hazardous-waste practices.

The firms were asked for detailed descriptions of any hazardous substances they use or hazardous waste they generate and their methods, past and present, for disposing of and transporting the wastes.

“This will be a comprehensive and overall investigation,” Wilson said.

The DWP will also be investigating how to reduce the contamination, officials said.

Superfund Financing

Duane Georgeson, assistant general manager and head of the water system for DWP, said he hopes the investigation will take 18 to 24 months, and that the cleanup could begin before then.

The $12-million study and reduction measures are being financed by the federal Superfund, run by the EPA, and the California Superfund, which were created to expedite cleanup of toxic sites.

The state Regional Water Quality Control Board is also investigating the situation, officials said.

Lockheed officials Friday gave state and local officials an outline of their plans to reduce groundwater contamination beneath the company’s Burbank plant.

The outline described a 24-week reduction program, and included the construction of contamination extraction wells, surface treatment systems and air inlet wells.

Lockheed on Friday submitted a plan to reduce contamination, which had been ordered by the state Regional Water Quality Control Board on Aug. 7.

State water quality officials said they will not be able to comment on Lockheed’s outline until Friday. But DWP officials expressed disappointment about it.

“There’s just not a whole lot of detail on how much water will be cleaned up, how it will be cleaned up and what they will do with the water,” Georgeson said.

“Lockheed is clearly looking at a sizable effort, and I expect that they did not have a lot of time to get this together,” he continued. “But I would have thought that they would have been anticipating some of this work months ago. It’s hard to believe they’re just starting on developing a cleanup plan.”

State water officials had long suspected Lockheed of contributing to the water pollution because the company was known to have used both PCE and TCE extensively over many years.