Contaminated Well Linked to Reservoir : Environment: A judge halts sluicing of Morris Reservoir after city officials fighting the project say it caused high bacterial levels in rancher’s drinking water.

Based on tests showing severe bacterial contamination of a horse rancher’s well, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has temporarily shut down a controversial county project to wash a thick layer of mud and rocks from the Morris Reservoir.

The horse ranch is just below the San Gabriel Mountains reservoir where, since July, the county Department of Public Works has been sluicing, or using water to clean out decades of debris covering the reservoir’s bottom.

Judge William Huss on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order sought by the city of Azusa and set a hearing date of Oct. 10 to consider the city’s request that the entire project be stopped until more extensive environmental studies are done.

County officials say the Azusa horse ranch itself is probably responsible for the private drinking-water well’s high counts of coliform bacteria--perhaps 16 times the level allowed by state law. Nonetheless, five times a day the county is trucking water to the ranch, owned by Ralph Covell, and conducting its own tests of the well and at the reservoir.

There have been no reported illnesses from the pollution, county officials said.

“I think we have evidence that the sluicing does not cause (the contamination),” Deputy County Counsel Paul I. Yoshinaga said. “The way it looks to me is the contamination is from the horses.”

But Azusa officials are skeptical.

“That stable, that ranch has had horses on it for a long, long time.” said Stephen R. Onstot, a Los Angeles attorney who is handling the case for Azusa. “Never before in the 100-year history of this well has there been a bacteria problem until a week after the start of this sluicing project.”

In its request for a temporary restraining order, Azusa maintained that tests showed the county project “has already contaminated one drinking-water well and threatens many more.”

Billions of gallons of water were drained from the reservoir in what county officials describe as a project to enhance its flood control capacity and to supplement the drought-ravaged underground water supply of the region.

On Sept. 12, after Morris was drained, water from the San Gabriel Reservoir upstream was released into the San Gabriel River and sent down to Morris to flush out silt and rocks.

The next day, Covell found his well was polluted, Azusa officials said.

The project began during the summer. Since then, Azusa officials have continually objected, citing possible damage to birds, plants, fish and water supplies. The officials also said the mud might dry and turn to dust, worsening the already smoggy air.

In addition, the Azusa officials have complained that the silt may have been contaminated with toxic chemicals released into the reservoir during torpedo testing by the U.S. Navy, which for years has operated a facility on the water’s edge. The testing has been halted.

But earlier this month, Azusa lost a bid in federal court to block the project.

A public meeting on the issue is planned at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, said Azusa Citizens Committee Breakfast Club treasurer Evan Evanoff.