Water Near Lab Found Safe : Tests Downhill From Site Back Rockwell Claims

Tests of three private wells and a spring near Rockwell International’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory show that the water is safe to drink, Ventura County officials said Tuesday.

The tests were of the closest drinking water supplies downhill from the laboratory site. The results confirmed Rockwell claims that radioactive contamination--found in low levels at the site--had not spread downhill and posed no danger to residents.

Bob Gallagher, an official with the county’s Environmental Health Department, said radioactivity levels in the wells and spring were below state drinking water standards, indicating that there has been no pollution of the water supply.

“The water is safe to drink,” Gallagher said.

Barbara Johnson, president of the Susana Knolls Homeowners Assn., said area residents welcomed the results because they have been worried about their health and property values.

Private Laboratory

Furthermore, the tests, conducted for the county by a private laboratory, found radiation levels no higher than levels that occur naturally. The water was tested for both alpha and beta radiation, both potentially hazardous but acting on the body in different ways.

Water from the wells and the spring showed alpha levels ranging from one to 11 picocuries per liter, below the state drinking water standard of 15 picocuries, Gallagher said. A picocurie is a unit of radiologic measurement.

Beta radiation ranged from seven to 10 picocuries per liter, below the state limit of 50 picocuries, he said.

The county offered two weeks ago to test private wells and springs for any concerned residents after reports of radioactive and chemical pollution at the lab raised fears about possible ground-water contamination in neighboring communities.

Contamination of a portion of the 2,668-acre complex was described in a preliminary report released last month by the U.S. Department of Energy, which contracted with Rockwell’s Rocketdyne division for nuclear work.

The report stated that while the pollution posed no immediate threat to nearby residents, more environmental tests were necessary to determine the extent of the contamination because of inadequacies in the company’s ground-water monitoring system.

The water came from wells and a spring belonging to three homeowners in Santa Susana Knolls, a community in the unincorporated area of Ventura County on the edge of Simi Valley, about two miles northeast of the lab. The wells are on land near Rocky and Rainey roads; the spring is near Black Canyon Road.

The homeowners, the only ones who responded to the county offer of free tests, took their own water samples in plastic jugs, but county officials said the sampling method did not present problems that would have biased the results.

Don Boydston, a retired businessman who owns the well near Rocky Road, said he asked the county to test his water because he uses the well for drinking. “It’s a big relief to know there’s nothing in the water,” Boydston said.

Repeated Tests

Rocketdyne spokesman Pat Coulter said the test results show that “there is absolutely nothing for homeowners to worry about.” Company officials have said they repeatedly tested 16 wells and springs within a mile of the site over the last four years without detecting any chemical or radioactive pollution.

Levels of radioactivity slightly above state standards were detected in three of the wells in 1986, but there is no indication that the low radioactivity poses a danger or that it came from the research lab, instead of occurring naturally in the rocks and soil. None of the 16 wells tested were used for drinking water, Rockwell officials said.

The firm plans to drill an additional 18 wells by the end of the year in a portion of the site where nuclear research was conducted for nearly 40 years. The company now monitors 123 wells on the site, officials said.