Underground Tanks : Toxic Leaks May Become County Task

Under a contract proposal that must be approved by the county Board of Supervisors, the Orange County Health Care Agency is to receive $1.06 million in federal and state money to oversee cleanup of sites contaminated by leaks from underground storage tanks.

The proposal, if approved, would involve the county in a 15-month pilot program that, for the first time anywhere in the United States, would give jurisdiction for such cleanups to local rather than state or federal agencies, said Robert E. Merryman, director of environmental health for the Health Care Agency.

If successful, the program would be expanded statewide, he said.

Merryman said that shifting responsibility for cleanup to local agencies would hasten the work, which in the past was plagued by long delays.

“The state just never had enough people,” he said. “Companies would report the leaks then go over to the (state) Water Resources Control Board regional office and get in line.”

Under the proposed contract for the pilot program, county health officials would hire 15 additional workers using the federal and state money. Those workers would sample soil and ground water when any underground storage tank anywhere in the county is removed, evaluate a company’s assessment of the extent and nature of any contamination and review a proposed cleanup program and then oversee the actual cleanup.

According to the agency’s statistics, there are currently 350 known sites in Orange County at which soil, ground water or both have been contaminated by tanks leaking gasoline, solvents or other chemicals.

The largest of the sites was discovered last week beneath a Thrifty gas station in Fountain Valley. One of three tanks beneath the station was found to have been improperly connected.

Tests of ground water below the tanks indicated concentrations of 16,400 parts per billion of benzene, a gasoline component that is a carcinogen. The state’s allowable limit for benzene is 0.7 parts per billion.

Widespread concern about contamination from underground storage tanks in California first surfaced in the late 1970s after two large leaks in Santa Clara were discovered to have contributed to a rise in birth defects, Merryman said.

A subsequent study conducted by the state found that such leaks were common.

State laws passed in response to the study required local governments to designate agencies to find and monitor underground storage tanks. But so far, only the state has directly overseen cleanups.

Merryman said all firms using underground storage tanks one day will be converted to new, sturdier, double-encased tanks that set off alarms the moment a leak occurs.

In the meantime, he estimated, the cleanup of contaminants from old style tanks will take at least 10 years.