El Toro : Marines to Test Further in Pollution Dispute

A new round of geological studies is planned next month to determine the extent of contaminated ground water at or near El Toro Marine Corps Air Station from a cancer-causing chemical once used at the base to clean aircraft engines.

Recent studies have shown widespread ground-water pollution from triochloroethylene, or TCE, a strong agent used by the military until the late 1970s to clean grease from engines of planes and helicopters.

Local water officials contend that the air station was the source of the TCE and that it has contaminated a pool 3 miles long.

But the Marines, acknowledging that some contamination exists, said it is not possible to determine the extent of pollution or who is responsible until they conduct further tests on the base and in surrounding areas.

Those tests, Navy Capt. S.R. Holm Jr. said, will take up to 18 months, with the results contained in a report to be completed by December, 1990.

That timetable was outlined Wednesday night at a board meeting of the Orange County Water District, one of several local and state agencies monitoring the TCE matter.

Though the contaminated ground water does not pose an immediate threat to domestic wells, officials said it could in the future if unchecked.

The water agency and the military plan to begin pumping the polluted water out of the ground within a month and using it to irrigate landscape and golf courses.

When TCE is exposed to air, it turns into a vapor and is rendered harmless.