Group to Appeal Expansion of Dump
Citing fears about contamination of San Gabriel Valley water, a group of water suppliers voted Wednesday to appeal the state Water Resources Control Board’s decision to permit expansion of an Azusa trash dump.
The nine-member board of the Main San Gabriel Valley Basin Watermaster voted unanimously to seek a court injunction and to appeal. Chairman Linn E. Magoffin said the board already had spent $300,000 fighting the expansion and the appeal was a gamble, but necessary to block the expansion, which the group feels could be disastrous.
The Azusa Land Reclamation Co. landfill is directly over part of the ground water supply for 1 million consumers in the San Gabriel Valley. Local water officials have opposed any expansion, despite the landfill operator’s assurances that elaborate steps will be taken to keep the dump from contaminating ground water.
San Gabriel Valley water already is suffering from one of the nation’s most complicated pollution problems, caused by underground pollutants.
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