Tainted Salvage Yard Water Pumped Into Sewer

Work crews on Thursday began pumping nearly 200,000 gallons of water contaminated with toxic PCBs and benzene from the grounds of an Anaheim auto salvage yard into county sewer lines.

The Orange County Sanitation Districts agreed to allow the water to be discharged through the sewer system because of fears that the benzene could contaminate ground-water supplies, county health officials said.

Levels of benzene, which is moderately toxic when ingested and is highly flammable, are considered unacceptable at more than 0.7 parts per billion.

Samples of water taken from a large pool in the yard of Orange County Steel Salvage Inc. contained benzene at levels of 30 to 40 parts per billion, health officials said.

Blake Anderson, director of technical services at the sanitation agency, said the contaminated water would have no impact on the sewage system, despite findings in recent years of excessive levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a suspected carcinogen, in sewer lines.

“Based on the results of the samples, we believe the sewer lines can take in the water without adverse effects on the sewer system, the treatment plant or our discharge outlet,” Anderson said. “Because of the threat to the ground-water supplies, we are all interested in seeing the water pulled off the site as soon as possible.”

Anderson said the PCBs in the water, which health officials estimate to be less than half a pound, is well under the daily maximum of 1.7 pounds the sanitation agency allows to be discharged.

The contaminated water resulted from a fire that ignited in a pile of auto debris at the salvage yard Sunday evening. The fire spread from the pile of auto debris to a 50,000-ton mound of shredded auto and appliance residue laced with toxic levels of PCBs.

The runoff from fire hoses accumulated in one large pool about 3 inches deep and several smaller pools of contaminated water. Officials said dikes placed around the 12-acre yard prevented the water from seeping away from the site.

Health officials said all of the water should be removed within three to four days. The water will be treated at the sanitation districts’ treatment facility off Huntington Beach before its eventual discharge into the ocean.