Countywide : State Approves County for Toxic Cleanup Tasks

The county has won approval from the state Water Resources Control Board to supervise cleanups of toxic leaks that threaten local water supplies, rather than wait for the state to do it, a county environmental official said Monday.

Bob Merryman, the county’s director of environmental health, said the cleanups will be done more quickly if the county does it, because the state’s regional water quality boards are understaffed. He said there are 317 sites on the county’s cleanup list.

Merryman said 100 jurisdictions across the state, including cities and counties, are enforcing regulations on underground storage tanks, which are the main sources of leaks. He said only 12, including Orange County, received authorization under the state pilot program to monitor cleanups themselves.

Merryman said the county has requested $826,000 in state and federal funds for the first year of the program to hire 11 people to monitor the cleanups. He said the number of staff members is likely to decline over the 10-year life of the program.

Merryman said that the county wants to get spills--which include petroleum and toxic chemicals--cleaned up before they seep into drinking water supplies and that the longer it takes to conduct a cleanup the greater is the chance of contamination.