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Expansion of Azusa Landfill Blocked by Water Board

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Times Staff Writer

Fears of toxic contamination seeping into the San Gabriel Valley’s drinking water supply have prompted a regional water board to stop the expansion of one of the area’s last operating landfills.

Despite a series of proposed safeguards to prevent leakage of toxic liquids from the Azusa Western landfill, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board decided expansion would gamble with the safety of the area’s drinking water.

“Everything comes back to the fact that it poses an unacceptable risk to water quality in the basin,” board member Dan W. Walker said before the Monday decision.

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Walker said no proposal would be acceptable if there was even the slightest chance of contaminating the Main San Gabriel Water Basin, which supplies drinking water to an estimated 1 million people.

Water Suppliers Pleased

San Gabriel Valley water suppliers who opposed expanded use at the landfill were pleased with the decision, saying it was a major step toward controlling the area’s persistent pollution problems.

“We couldn’t afford to have any other decision but this one,” said Al Wittig, director of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. “The time has come for us to stop adding to the problem.”

But William A. Anderson II, the attorney representing the Azusa Land Reclamation Co., said the decision was an “emotional” one that ignored the safeguards built into the plan.

Anderson said the company’s proposal would meet or exceed all state safety standards. The safeguards included construction of a foot-thick clay liner beneath the dump and the payment of $400,000 a year into a trust fund to finance solutions for any future ground water problems.

Serious Impact

Anderson added that the rejection will have a serious impact on trash disposal throughout the area.

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Azusa Western is one of five remaining operating landfills in the San Gabriel Valley. Without the proposed expansion, the landfill will reach capacity in less than a year, forcing its closure, Anderson said.

Ric Spencer, the district manager in charge of the landfill, said the company will appeal the decision to the state Water Quality Control Board within the next month.

The 302-acre Azusa Western landfill is located in a sand and gravel quarry off West Gladstone Street and receives about 1,500 tons of trash a day. The company has been dumping in an 80-acre area since 1952, Spencer said.

In 1986, the company began planning to expand its operations into 222 acres, which would provide enough room to handle the trash it receives until the year 2009.

The proposal ran into immediate opposition from the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster, the organization responsible for monitoring the use of water in the San Gabriel Valley.

Unlike other landfills in the area, Azusa Western is located in porous soil above an underground water basin, said Linn E. Magoffin, chairman of the watermaster board.

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Although no toxic wastes can be legally dumped at the site, Magoffin said it is inevitable that household chemicals or toxic liquids from decomposing trash would seep into the ground water.

Problem Compounded

The landfill’s location in an excavated gravel pit compounds the problem by putting the trash closer to the underground water supply, Magoffin said.

At last count, contamination had been detected in about 88 of the 400 water wells in the Main San Gabriel Water Basin. Four areas of the Main San Gabriel Basin were put on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list in 1984. The EPA has not determined the source of the contamination, but has estimated that the cleanup could cost at least $800 million.

Despite the concerns, the staff of the Regional Water Quality Control Board recommended that the landfill be allowed to expand its operations.

Safeguards Established

“We have put in all the safeguards and in some places have gone beyond them,” said Robert P. Ghirelli, executive director of the regional water board. “From a technical standpoint we feel confident.”

The clay liner would protect the soil from contamination, and a drainage system would prevent any liquids from collecting in the liner, according to the company.

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But Anderson and Ghirelli conceded that leakage was possible.

“This is a landfill built to very high standards,” Ghirelli said. “But yes, everything leaks to some extent. I don’t think anyone could say there is zero risk.”

Similar System OKd

Board members refused to approve the expansion despite earlier allowing a similar system at the Bradley West landfill in the San Fernando Valley.

“I think it’s time to go beyond the past,” said board member James H. Grossman. “There are some risks here that I am unwilling to take.”

Board member Larry Zarian cast the only vote in favor of the proposal, saying he believed the plan provided adequate protection.

“If we are going to have any place to dump solid waste, we need to protect the public as much as we can,” Zarian said. “Staff has shown me that they have done everything in their power to do that.”

He said denying the expansion will force trash haulers to dump in other landfills, causing them to fill up even faster.

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The county has estimated that four of the five landfills in the area will run out of dumping area in the next seven years.

The Scholl Canyon landfill in Glendale is expected to remain open until 2010, but the city has restricted its use.

“What happens now is that people in the area are going to have to take their garbage elsewhere,” Zarian said. “Where is that elsewhere? I don’t know.”

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