Trouble Spreads Underground From Leaking Tanks : Owners Test Thousands of Containers, Clean Up Toxic Spills That Pose Threat to Water Supplies

In Signal Hill, an oil field equipment company has leaked a poisonous solvent into the ground water, and a large pool of gasoline, apparently from another location, has flowed under the company and probably the elementary school next door.

In Lakewood, construction of an office building on an old oil company storage site has been stalled for two years as property owners have bailed gasoline from atop the water table.

In Lynwood, Paramount and Long Beach, layers of gasoline up to five feet thick have been found beneath at least 10 service stations and car washes, and plumes of ground water are carrying the pollution onto neighbors’ property.

These cases--among 225 discovered throughout the Long Beach area in the last five years--illustrate the hidden threat to ground water posed by leaking underground storage tanks. They have been found as owners of thousands of subterranean tanks have tested them for old leaks and begun to monitor them for new ones as required by a 1983 law.

How much leaking tanks have contributed to the widespread pollution of ground water in the Long Beach and Southeast areas is unclear, but state officials say ruptured tanks are probably a main source of the contamination.

Twenty-three public wells have been closed in the Southeast area, within 10 miles of Long Beach, and 80 more are contaminated. Three of the closed wells are in Bellflower, which borders North Long Beach.

Filtration System Budgeted

None of Long Beach’s 30 municipal wells, most of which are exceptionally deep and protected by a series of natural clay barriers, has been polluted. But Long Beach water officials predict that some of their wells will be contaminated within a few years, and they have included a $5-million water filtration system in their long-range construction budget.

Larry Larson, general manager of the Long Beach Water Department, said he is unsure whether the Long Beach water supply is directly threatened by leaking tanks. But, he added: “You just don’t want gasoline in your ground water.”

More than 170 of the area’s 225 tank leaks have been found in Long Beach alone. That unusually high number is the result of aggressive enforcement of tank-testing laws.

Ahead of Other Cities

While many cities and counties are just beginning to enforce the 1983 state law, Long Beach began its inspection and enforcement program in 1985.

“In Los Angeles County, Long Beach was first to require monitoring and testing,” said Josh Workman, tank-unit chief of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. “The original law had deadlines, and they took those deadlines seriously.”

About 80% of Long Beach’s 1,650 buried tanks have been tested and are permanently monitored for new leaks, compared to about 42% statewide and 30% countywide, according to enforcement agencies.

Another 1,000 tanks--including at least 500 installed during World War II and then forgotten--have been removed, Long Beach officials said.

Of Los Angeles County’s 85 cities, only Long Beach, Los Angeles, Torrance, Santa Monica and Vernon oversee tank testing, monitoring and minor contamination cleanups. The county runs the tank program in unincorporated areas and the other cities.

Number Could Soar

County officials say the number of leaks detected in cities within their jurisdiction could soar during the next year as owners are pressed to test and monitor tanks by a mid-1989 deadline.

Even now, “we’ve got (leaks) all over the place. I don’t even keep them in my head any more. There’s too many of them,” said Carl Sjoberg, county tank-inspection director. More than 1,300 have been reported countywide.

Through the end of July, in addition to Long Beach’s 170 leaks, 10 had been reported in Lakewood, nine each in Paramount and Cerritos, eight each in Compton and Lynwood, seven in Signal Hill, and two each in Bellflower and Hawaiian Gardens.

Ground-water cleanups are supervised by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which officials say already has four times as many cases as it can adequately handle.

Because Long Beach found so many leaks so early, it moved a number of serious cases to the water board before the backlog developed. That has resulted in an uncommonly high number of completed cleanups, state officials say.

Cleanups have been completed in about 50 of the city’s cases and are under way on about 20 more, according to city and state officials. Most of the closed cases involve only soil contamination and are easier to remedy than those affecting ground water.

City-Owned Tank Tests Lag

Despite its good record in forcing others to test their tanks, Long Beach has been slow to test its own; just 35 of 85 municipal tanks, or about 40%, had been tested or removed by late July, officials said.

“We’re moving ahead with a program to test the other (municipal) tanks,” said Ed Putz, acting city engineer. “But I can’t give you a deadline. We’re doing as many as we can with budgeted funds.”

More than $200,000 has been spent so far to test or remove city tanks, Putz said. Only a few minor leaks have been found, he said.

Quick detection and cleanup are important, water officials say, because delays allow contaminants to spread, increasing cleanup costs and the chance that toxic chemicals will sink into deep drinking-water basins.

Although Long Beach is dotted with heavy industry and is the home of a huge oil field and a booming port, it has had few problems with the quality of its drinking water, city officials say.

Well closures and expensive cleanups in neighboring cities, however, illustrate the problems tank leaks may cause.

Five Wells Closed

Half of South Gate’s water supply has been contaminated by degreasing solvents that city officials suspect may have leaked from below-ground waste water basins, which are defined as underground tanks in state law. Five city wells have been closed, and South Gate is planning to build a $5-million plant to clean the water. For now, the city must buy costly imported water to meet demands.

In Santa Fe Springs, Ashland Chemical Co. has spent five years and $1 million trying to define the extent of water contamination from leaks in some of its 47 underground tanks.

While many Long Beach leaks have been clustered on the industrial west side, where small businesses store gasoline and degreasing solvents, they also have been unearthed along nearly every major street in the city.

They have been found at the airport and Alamitos Bay marinas, at hospitals and a newspaper office, at the local courthouse and two cemeteries, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and at Douglas Aircraft Co., according to state reports.

Fifteen Long Beach leaks, most of them involving gasoline at service stations, are among the 140 cases identified as most serious by engineers for the regional water board, which directs ground-water cleanups in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Seven other major cases involve leaks in Paramount, Signal Hill, Lakewood and Lynwood.

5-Foot Layers of Gasoline

In five of the Long Beach cases, layers of gasoline up to five feet thick were found floating atop ground water in plumes that now extend beyond tank owners’ properties.

This has prompted fears that gasoline vapors may seep into homes, as occurred near the Chevron oil refinery in El Segundo in 1985, following undetected leaks of millions of barrels of fuel into the shallow ground water.

It has also raised legal questions about liability and has sometimes stalled cleanups because of neighbors’ reluctance to allow testing to determine the extent of contamination.

If tests show that adjoining properties are polluted, owners must declare the potential hazard when they sell their real estate. Financial institutions and escrow companies increasingly require assurance from governmental agencies that environmental problems have been resolved.

“The real estate people call us every day. They’re very much concerned about how clean is clean. They want us to sign off,” said Hank Yacoub, supervising toxics engineer for the water board in Los Angeles.

Quick Evaluation

To help out the owners of polluted properties who are willing to pay for immediate cleanup, Yacoub said he has directed board engineers to quickly evaluate such cases. But giving those cases a high priority also means that others get less prompt attention because of the water board’s backlog, which gets longer each day.

“In a few cases,” said the county’s Sjoberg, “we’ve pursued the cleanup even though it was a (water board) case, because the (owners) had been sitting there with a hole in the ground for a good six months--sitting there waiting for somebody to make up their mind what to do.”

The Long Beach testing program has uncovered unusual incidents as well as threats to the environment.

In a 1987 case, for example, a fuel-truck driver mistook a leak-detection well for a storage tank and emptied 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the soil and ground water at the General Telephone building across from City Hall. The fuel is still being pumped from ground water. Local tank testing also has demonstrated how costly it can be for small businesses to comply with the tank law, especially when a problem is detected.

$40,000 Spent So Far

Seaside Paint & Lacquer Co., owned by Harbor Commissioner Joel Friedland and his family, has spent $40,000 since 1985 to remove four solvent tanks and clean up a small amount of contaminated soil. Friedland said the tanks never leaked, and investigators agree that the soil probably was contaminated during years of refilling.

Solvents also were found in shallow ground water beneath the west side property, but Friedland, whose family has owned Seaside for 40 years, said the company has never stored those solvents.

Although no more problems have been found, Friedland said he may remove his last nine underground tanks because of the possibility of further contamination. To replace the single-walled tanks with electronically monitored double-walled ones, as he said prudence dictates, would cost up to $300,000.

“You’re always at risk, so if they’re not absolutely necessary we’ll pull them. What we have to do is just trash good equipment because of liability,” Friedland said.

While investigators say the quantities of solvents and fuels found at Seaside are small, solvent contamination is always taken seriously because the oil-based liquids tend to sink into deeper water basins.

A greater potential threat, the state says, is water contamination found in 1986 beneath Pacific Valves, an oil field equipment company just south of California Heights and adjacent to Burroughs Elementary School in Signal Hill.

Cancer-Causing Substance

State investigators say that the company’s tanks leaked TCE, a solvent believed capable of causing cancer in humans, into ground water at a depth of 90 feet. Of equal concern is a large quantity of gasoline from an unknown source that is floating beneath the company, the state says.

Cleanup at the valve company has not begun because the site’s twisted, hillside geology has made it difficult to decide where to place wells to measure the plume, investigators said. The company is venting fuel vapors from the soil.

Despite the number of serious Long Beach cases, the city has been fortunate because its drinking-water wells remain pure.

At least 160 private and 50 community wells have been tainted by leaks from buried tanks throughout California. Ten Burbank city wells and one Pomona well have been closed by tank leaks.

In the Central Basin, which underlies the Southeast area and half of Long Beach, nearly 25% of the 430 active wells are contaminated with detectable amounts of toxic chemicals, according to state reports.

Municipal Wells Closed

Twenty polluted municipal wells have been closed in Southeast cities including Bellflower, Norwalk, South Gate, Downey and Whittier. More than 80 other wells have been contaminated to a lesser degree and remain in use.

Chemicals also have been found in a number of small public wells such as those at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey and Alice Birney Elementary School in Pico Rivera.

When contaminants exceed state safety levels, wells are closed or the water is mixed to reduce pollution to recommended limits.

In general, water officials think the pollution is coming from leaking underground tanks, sumps or storage basins, landfills and septic tanks. For years, one water board investigator said, heavy industry disposed of toxic wastes by “dumping them out the back door.”

“We know there are some underground tanks in the Central Basin that are causing some of this,” the water board’s Yacoub said. “But we think most of the pollution that’s showing up in these wells occurred during the last 40 or 50 years, when industry had carte blanche approval to do what they wanted.”

Statewide, polluted water supplies usually are found in areas characterized by shallow wells and by sandy soil that allows fluids to sink rapidly.

Deepest Wells in L.A.

Soil in Long Beach is somewhat sandy, but its wells are among the deepest in the Los Angeles Basin, drawing water from a depth of 1,000 to 2,500 feet, said the Water Department’s Larson.

Many Southeast area wells are 300 to 600 feet deep, water officials said. Long Beach’s wells are encased in cement until they reach 300 feet to reduce the risk that pollutants in shallow basins will work their way inside, Larson said.

Long Beach has also been blessed with the natural protection of several clay layers that separate its often-brackish shallow water basins from deep drinking-water aquifers. About 40% of the city’s water comes from these deep basins, with the rest imported from Northern California or the Colorado River, Larson said.

Conversely, wells in Montebello, Pico Rivera, Downey and Whittier--the cities of the so-called Montebello Forebay--are particularly vulnerable to chemicals discharged into the sandy soil, Larson said.

“If you put a gallon of gasoline into the soil at the Montebello Forebay, there’s nothing to keep it from going into the water supply,” he said. “But in Long Beach, there is clay that will preclude that gasoline from soaking through.”

Opinion Being Revised

Not that Long Beach is fully protected by the clay layers.

Water officials who once thought the clay impermeable are revising that opinion based on contamination problems in the Santa Clara Valley and Santa Monica and because of pollution found in wells in Bellflower, Norwalk and South Gate. Clay layers overlay the drinking-water basins in those areas.

“It’s leaking around the clay layers. We thought we were protected. But now it’s saturated or circumvented them, and we’re losing wells,” said Thomas A. Salzano, assistant general manager of the Central and West Basin Water Replenishment District in Downey.

The contamination from the northern half of the Central Basin is flowing through deep-water basins in Long Beach’s direction, Larson said. “I don’t think there’s any question that what’s in the basin is coming to us like it’s in a pipeline,” he said.

Salzano agreed that pollution is moving seaward from the Southeast area, but very slowly. Contamination in shallow wells in Bellflower could reach Long Beach in a few years, but it will be decades before chemicals reach the deeper aquifers from which Long Beach gets its water, he said.

“It’s not like a freight train that’s going to hit you in the face,” Salzano said.

LONG BEACH-AREA LEAKING TANKS: SOME MAJOR CASES

Since 1983, leaking underground storage tanks have been discovered at 225 locations throughout the Long Beach area, including 170 in Long Beach, 10 in Lakewood, 9 each in Paramount and Cerritos, 8 each in Compton and Lynwood, 7 in Signal Hill and 2 each in Bellflower and Hawaiian Gardens.

Twenty-two area leaks, most involving gasoline at service stations, are among the 140 cases considered most serious by engineers at the state Regional Water Quality Control Board in Los Angeles.

More than 1,300 leak cases have been reported countywide.

DESERT PETROLEUM INC. 6110 Bellflower Blvd., Lakewood Leaks in several of the company’s 13 tanks were discovered during a 1986 sale of property for construction of an office building. Water officials have refused to allow construction until gasoline is removed from ground water. Extraction by bailing is under way because the water basin is too shallow to allow pumping. CYRON COATINGS 15713 Vermont Ave., Paramount Leaks from several of 18 buried tanks at a small trophy-coating company discharged fuel and solvents into ground water. About 7,000 gallons of the contaminants have been pumped from ground water since 1985. The business burned down in an accidental fire, and the city would not allow it to be reestablished because of new zoning. Sale of the parcel to a neighboring manufacturer has been blocked until cleanup is complete. ARCO STATION 16804 Downey Ave., Paramount Up to 20,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from tank piping over a period of one to two months. “At high volume stations it’s hard to see a leak sometimes,” a state investigator explained. About 3,000 gallons have been pumped from ground water at a depth of 30 feet, cleaned on site and discharged into a storm drain. Dissolved fuel has moved about 50 feet off site. PACIFIC VALVES 3201 Walnut Ave.,Signal Hill Solvent contamination from tanks at the oil field equipment company was found in ground water at a depth of 90 feet. A large pool of gasoline, apparently from another location, has flowed under the company and possibly the adjacent elementary school, investigators say. Cleanup has not begun because the site’s twisted, hillside geology has made it difficult to decide where to place wells to measure the contaminant plume. The company, at the northern tip of an old oil field, is venting fuel vapors from the soil. The closest water wells are about one mile away. CORMIER CHEVROLET 2201 E. 223rd St., Long Beach Hydrocarbons were found last November in the ground water beneath the auto dealership. Soil samples indicate that tanks on the site were leaking, but more tests are needed to determine if pollutants reached ground water, investigators say. The company says there are oil and gas pipelines that cross its property from an adjacent oil refinery, and raises the possibility of a pipeline leak. Cormier has conducted tests to ensure that vapors are no danger to employees and customers. MOBIL STATION 9910 Long Beach Blvd., Lynwood A layer of gasoline five feet thick was discovered beneath the service station after leaking tanks were found in 1985. At least 500 gallons of gasoline have been pumped from ground water, which is at a depth of about 40 feet. Cleanup continues. U-HAUL CENTER

4045 Cherry Ave., Long Beach Although discovered in 1984, a layer of gasoline remains atop ground water, and dissolved hydrocarbons have migrated off the site. Pumping of fuel and contaminated water continues. MAGIC MINUTE CAR WASH 4800 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach A layer of gasoline once up to five feet thick is being pumped from ground water. The plume has moved off site, and the state is requiring the property owner to submit a plan for testing surrounding properties for pollution. UNOCAL STATION

6370 E. Stearns St., Long Beach After nearly four years and the recovery of hundreds of gallons of fuel, cleanup continues at the service station. Fuel is being collected irregularly from a series of trenches. Its plume has migrated off site, but pollution levels are low. EXXON STATION 6401 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach After a 1,700-gallon gasoline leak in 1983, station owners pumped hundreds of gallons from the ground water and thought they had solved the problem, state inspectors said. But in 1986, the seals of a nearby municipal water main were eaten through by gasoline. The state maintains that the earlier leak was the cause, but the station owner points to a number of oil and gas pipelines in the area as possible sources.