DWP Yard Suspected in Pollution of Water Wells

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, whose North Hollywood water supply wells are targeted for cleanup under the federal Superfund program, is itself under investigation by the state for possibly contributing to the pollution.

By order of state water quality officials, the DWP will test soils beneath its big east San Fernando Valley maintenance yard at 12370 Saticoy St. South in North Hollywood for chemical and fuel contamination.

If significant soil contamination exists, the DWP may have to test ground water under the site, about a mile uphill from several chemically tainted wells.

A finding that it had contributed to ground water pollution would embarrass the DWP, which is a major beneficiary of Superfund cleanup funds and which has been delegated a key role in the multimillion-dollar North Hollywood cleanup by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The cleanup is intended to remove traces of chemical solvents from water supply wells. The most polluted wells have been shut down so that customers receive water that meets health standards.

Seepage Pit Found

The investigation follows two visits last fall by California Regional Water Quality Control Board inspectors, who reported seeing stained soil near fuel and chemical storage areas and a 25-foot-deep seepage pit at the maintenance yard, where the DWP does welding and vehicle repairs and coats water pipe.

“We’re pursuing this as a ‘priority one’ investigation,” said David Bacharowski, environmental specialist with the water quality board in Los Angeles.

“That means there’s a high potential for ground water contamination, based on their operation and the results of their inspection,” Bacharowski said.

Laurent McReynolds, engineer in charge of the DWP’s water operating division, said he is puzzled that the water board has focused on the site. “I think we’ve got a zealous young inspector who’s looking at a basic automotive operation that you find in thousands of locations throughout the city,” he said.

Bacharowski said the DWP has not been singled out unfairly, adding that inspectors were surprised by conditions at the maintenance yard, which has operated more than 35 years. “There were a lot of questionable activities,” including numerous potential pollution sources at the yard, he said.

DWP Criticized

Bacharowski said conditions at the yard seemed inconsistent with the DWP’s role as a water provider.

A vast area of the Valley, stretching from North Hollywood east into the Verdugo Mountains, has been designated for Superfund cleanup because of pollution of public drinking-water wells by low levels of chemical solvents.

The main pollutants are trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene--known as TCE and PCE--solvents used in metal degreasing and dry cleaning that are believed to pose a small risk of cancer if consumed at low levels over many years.

Wells tainted by these chemicals belong to the cities of Burbank, Glendale and the Crescenta Valley County Water District, along with the DWP, which draws about 15% of the city’s water supply from its wells in North Hollywood and along the Los Angeles River.

The DWP blends its well water with Owens Valley water and serves it to customers in east and central Los Angeles and other areas south of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The DWP has been designated the lead agency for part of the Superfund project, which may cost more than $100 million. The DWP’s role is to pinpoint the location and movement of pockets of highly contaminated water so that cleanup measures can be designed.

Aeration Under Way

The DWP also was lead agency for development of a pilot ground water treatment system that began operating in North Hollywood in March. Built with $2 million in Superfund money, the aeration treatment system is extracting some of the most polluted ground water and cleaning it to meet drinking water standards.

Ground water under the maintenance yard flows in a southeasterly direction toward some of the most contaminated North Hollywood wells.

Since ground water is at least 200 feet below the surface in the North Hollywood area, even heavy soil contamination may not reach it for years. Bacharowski said the DWP site is one of about 30 being checked in the North Hollywood area. But it is a high priority for investigation because of conditions observed during the inspections last fall.

In a letter last October to the DWP, water quality officials said that in several areas where chemicals and waste were stored in drums “there was evidence of chemical spills to the ground surface. . . . Stained and distressed asphalt surfaces were observed. Effective control measures were not in place to contain any spilled material . . . or to prevent infiltration of these wastes into the subsurface.”

Use of Pit Stopped

Inspectors also saw a 25-foot-deep seepage pit that DWP workers said had been used to drain water used to wash equipment. Inspectors said they were told use of the pit was abandoned “at an unspecified time” in the past.

But the letter said the yard, at the time of the inspections, was discharging waste water into an unlined ditch without a waste discharge permit required by state law.

A work plan submitted May 1 by a DWP consultant outlines several tasks, including testing soil samples near the seepage pit and other suspect areas, researching past waste disposal practices, and recommending improvements in handling of chemicals and fuels. The work plan is under review by Water Quality Control Board staff.

The work plan includes data from an area of the yard where pipes are coated with an asphalt-like material. Samples of surface soil there contained high concentrations of petroleum materials of up to 27,050 parts per million.

But, McReynolds said, he believes that the maintenance yard mainly has handled fuels and hydrocarbon-based solvents, as opposed to the chlorinated solvents, TCE and PCE, that have fouled drinking water wells.

“We don’t see any operations that would indicate that we used a significant amount of solvent and had any improper disposal of it,” McReynolds said.

But he admitted that DWP records do not go back to the 1950s, when the maintenance yard opened.

“If you asked me what can I swear to 20 years ago--nothing,” McReynolds said.

Under the Superfund program, the EPA can advance funds for investigation and cleanup of toxic pollution, but must try to recover the money from responsible parties, through legal action if necessary. In Burbank, where the agency is proposing a $70-million aeration treatment complex to clean highly polluted ground water, the EPA has served notice on 27 businesses that they may be required to finance the cleanup.

With literally hundreds of aerospace, auto repair and dry cleaning companies having used PCE and TCE over the years--sometimes long before implementation of environmental controls--the pollution in North Hollywood, Burbank and the other areas probably had many contributors.

Although the DWP is a public agency, it could be required to help pay for cleanup if found partly responsible, said Paula Bisson, a section chief with the EPA.