The Region : Close Dump, Physicians Say

The 35-member governing body of the Los Angeles County Medical Assn., citing risks to the San Gabriel Valley’s underground water supply, has endorsed a resolution opposing the expansion of the Azusa landfill.

The medical group on Monday adopted a position paper that calls for the landfill’s operator to close the dump and to “acknowledge that the Azusa site is not suitable for a landfill.”

Controversy has surrounded the expansion by Azusa Land Reclamation Co., even though it has received approval from local and state water boards. In addition, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in April ruled in favor of the dump’s expansion. But that decision was appealed last month by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and San Gabriel Valley water officials, who say the expansion threatens an already contaminated ground-water supply.

The medical association, which has 10,000 physicians as members, joins a diverse group of dump expansion opponents, including the Environmental Defense Fund and the March of Dimes.

Operators of the dump, whose parent firm is Browning-Ferris Industries, maintain that their facility is state-of-the-art and that great lengths have been taken to protect the environment around the landfill.