Water District Votes to Ban Landfill Expansion

Citing an eventual danger to San Gabriel Valley underground water supplies, the Metropolitan Water District voted unanimously on Tuesday to join in a legal action to stop the expansion of a landfill in Azusa.

Browning-Ferris Industries, a Houston-based company chaired by former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head William D. Ruchleshaus, wants to expand the landfill to accommodate 36 million more tons of trash. The company promised to insert high-density plastic liners to separate the landfill from the water table and, to sweeten the deal, to set up a $20-million fund to clean up already polluted water in the San Gabriel Valley.

“No one is suggesting that the impact (on ground water) will be immediate,” said Metropolitan Water District spokesman Jay Malinowski. “But from our point of view, there’s no reason to believe that liner won’t leak eventually.”

The water district will join the Main San Gabriel Valley Water Basin, which oversees water rights in the region, in seeking to overturn a decision by the State Water Resources Control Board allowing Browning-Ferris to proceed with its plan.

A spokesman for the Houston company said that officials would continue to seek an amicable settlement that would permit expansion of the landfill.