County OKs Tests at Jail Landfill Site : Environment: An analysis is planned to determine what hazardous materials exist in a remote canyon of Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday approved an initial analysis to determine which hazardous substances exist at an abandoned landfill on the grounds of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho and how far they may have migrated into surrounding soil and ground water.

The Sheriff’s Department discovered in September that chemicals, which it believes originated from materials seized at illicit drug laboratories in the 1970s, had leaked into the soil of a remote canyon at the Castaic jail.

Originally, it was reported that the contamination had been detected in soils, but on Tuesday a county hazardous materials expert said that a toxic solvent, ethyl ether, used in the production of PCP, had turned up first in ground water in the canyon.

Traces of ethyl ether were found in two wells that had been dug to monitor ground water near the jail’s garbage dump, said Lance Ralston, hazardous-materials specialist with the County Fire Department.

But Ralston, who is coordinating the analysis and cleanup plan for the county, said the contaminated canyon is far enough away from the jail that it does not appear to pose an immediate threat to drinking-water supplies for the 8,000 inmates. Future tests will determine whether the water under the canyon is even hydrologically connected with the jail’s ground water, he said.

“The ground water in this canyon may well be isolated. . .not connected with any drinking water aquifers,” he said.

In November, the Sheriff’s Department reported that tests of wells that provide drinking water and water to irrigate the jail farm had revealed no dangerous chemical contamination.

Ralston said the site is fenced off from the rest of the jail but that a military-style running course nearby was moved to avoid the possibility of any inmate contact with the soil, “just to be on the safe side.”

The county agreed Tuesday to pay a private environmental consultant $120,000 to begin analysis of the site by installing two water-monitoring pumps in existing wells, training Sheriff’s Department staff in hazardous-waste precautions in case they have to approach the site and developing a preliminary cleanup plan.

Future phases, which could take two years or more, will include deep-soil testing, developing a final cleanup plan and completing the necessary excavation of contaminated soil or pumping of tainted water, said Tom Schriber, deputy director of design and construction at the county Internal Services Department.

Schriber said cost estimates for the entire project will not be known until the first analysis phase is complete.

The report from the Internal Services Department to the Board of Supervisors recommended that the analysis begin as soon as possible because the South Coast Air Quality Management District had issued a compliance notice to the county. An air district spokeswoman said the agency wants air tests to be taken at the site now and when excavation occurs to make sure that none of the volatile chemical escapes into the air.

Ralston said that since the first report to his office of the chemical discovery, sheriff’s officials had determined that the five-acre canyon had been used years ago to bury everything from garbage to animal remains. Of 55 burial sites identified, he said only three or four appeared to contain drug-lab wastes.