PERSPECTIVE ON POLLUTION : It’s Do-It-Ourselves Time : Contamination of the San Gabriel Valley’s water is spreading; a cleanup partnership is proposed.

Most people living in Los Angeles probably aren’t aware that the San Gabriel Ground Water Basin, only 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles, is one of the most polluted aquifers in the United States. If they are aware of the San Gabriel problems, they probably think that those problems don’t relate to them. Well, I’m here to tell you that they do; the San Gabriel water problems will eventually affect everyone in California, and in more ways than you can imagine.

The San Gabriel basin is polluted by high levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE) and carbon tetrachloride (CTC), all cancer-causing chemicals. The contamination levels vary throughout the basin, but have been recorded as high as 1,100 parts per billion, hundreds of times above the allowable limits.

More than 1 million people rely on the San Gabriel aquifer as their primary drinking-water source, which makes it probably the largest potable ground-water Superfund site in the United States. If the aquifer becomes too polluted for use (25% of the wells are currently shut down), residents of the valley will need to turn to other sources of water, putting more pressure on the already overburdened California water supply system.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the main body of contamination is limited to the San Gabriel basin. Yet the EPA believes that within a few years the contamination will spread into the Central Ground Water Basin, which supplies Whittier, Norwalk, Bellflower and Lakewood, exposing more people to risk and complicating what is already an intractable situation.

It is for the above reasons that the problems in the San Gabriel basin are important to everyone who lives in the metropolitan region. But the San Gabriel aquifer is important for another reason as well: The economy of the region could be severely shocked by the imposition of the cleanup costs and by multiple levels of lawsuits initiated under the liability provisions of Superfund. The way Superfund works, once a polluter at a Superfund site has been identified, it can be held responsible for all the costs associated with cleaning up the site, no matter how much of the contamination it contributed. Once the polluter agrees to pay cleanup costs, it may--and is actually encouraged to--sue other contributors to the contamination that the EPA didn’t single out. And those parties can sue others, and so on. Among the polluters of the aquifer are thousands of small businesses and homeowners throughout the valley, most of whom never knew they were doing anything wrong, or what they were doing wasn’t wrong at the time.

Meanwhile, the 45 water purveyors who take water from the aquifer are “moving” the contaminants, or changing the natural flow of the ground water, every time they turn on their pumps. That has created a situation where the water companies could be sued simplyfor using the water. Even if most of these lawsuits prove groundless, the legal expense alone will put many businesses and maybe even some water companies out of business.

Recently, I was told that one municipality was considering a lawsuit against the polluters to recover potential tax revenue lost when a firm decided not to locate in the city, citing the ground-water contamination as the reason.

The ripple effect of legal action could continue for years. As a result, the long-term cleanup of the San Gabriel aquifer is in jeopardy.

At the very least, the cleanup will be exceedingly expensive and contentious. While the lawyers may make money from extended, often baseless litigation, the economic viability of the San Gabriel Valley could be destroyed, and the impact on the entire region could be devastating.

The EPA’s management of the project so far can most charitably be described as a rear-guard holding action. The agency has not allocated sufficient resources to make any headway in actually resolving the ground-water contamination problems. Much of the community doubts that the EPA has the capability or the resolve to clean the aquifer in a way that will protect drinking-water supplies or identify responsible parties equitably. The community is convinced that, working together, it can accomplish more, in a shorter time, and for less money, than the EPA would ever be able to accomplish.

That will require a new regulatory and financing structure to ensure a cleanup adequate to the task of protecting the health and safety needs of the water users.

I recently introduced legislation that would allow the business community in the San Gabriel Valley to assume responsibility for the cleanup. I believe that a public-private partnership can solve the environmental problems in the valley at the least cost to society.

The San Gabriel Basin Demonstration Project would clean up the San Gabriel aquifer much faster than the EPA is capable of moving. The industrial community would be invited to contribute voluntarily to the cleanup, using a formula based on the type of business, the proximity to known contaminated wells and each business’ gross revenue. The industrial facilities would be asked to sign a contract with the EPA to pay their share of the ground-water remediation costs. The project will commence if 85% of the eligible facilities agree to participate. If a facility contracts with the EPA and fulfills its obligations, its Superfund liability would be suspended.

Cleanup decisions would be coordinated through an independent lead agency to be established by the state. The federal and state governments would each pay 10% of the cleanup cost.

The problems in the San Gabriel Valley, and the solution to those problems, will ultimately affect everyone in the state. If we don’t find a reasonably crafted solution, our grandchildren will pay for our mistakes.

Ground Water Contamination in the San Gabriel Basin

More than 1 million people rely on the highly polluted San Gabriel aquifer for drinking water. If the pollution worsens or spreads, pressure on other water sources will intensify. Source: U.S. Geological Survey and House of Representatives Information Systems