Businesses Told They Could Be Billed for Water Cleanup : Environment: The suspected polluters might have to share in a $36.4-million attack on contamination. Some have begun their own cleanup efforts; others deny responsibility.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has notified 35 businesses and property owners in Glendale and Burbank that they may be ordered to help pay for a proposed $36.4-million cleanup of contaminated ground water in Glendale.

The first wave of notices were sent last week to companies considered responsible for polluting the water, said EPA project manager Claire Trombadore. Another 35 property owners are expected to be notified within the next few months, she said.

Among the 22 businesses named as possibly responsible is Lockheed Corp., which already has agreed to help clean up contaminated water in Burbank and is on a list of suspected polluters of ground water in North Hollywood.

Lockheed officials declined to comment on the latest notice, which suggests that contaminants have migrated underground from a manufacturing plant at 2300 Empire Ave. in Burbank to both Burbank and Glendale water wells.

Representatives of several businesses named by the EPA said they have been working to clean up chemical contaminants in the soil under and around their buildings. Others deny any responsibility for polluting the water.

Letters mailed so far are only preliminary, Trombadore said. Companies considered to be actually liable for the cleanup are to be notified by next March, she said.

Five Glendale city wells in the Grand Central industrial area were shut down in 1980 after tests found the water was contaminated with solvents used in dry-cleaning and manufacturing. Studies indicated that high concentrations of the cancer-causing toxins had seeped into the soil over a period of 50 years, probably because of improper storage and disposal of chemicals.

A large area of the east San Fernando Valley and Glendale was designated in 1986 for cleanup under the federal Superfund program, which identifies the nation’s worst toxic sites. A North Hollywood water treatment plant was opened in March, 1989, to begin the cleanup. A second ground water extraction and treatment plant is being built in Burbank, EPA spokeswoman Paula Bruin said.

Wells in south Glendale also are polluted. A hearing on cleanup of that area is expected to be held later this year, officials said.

The EPA generally favors a process in which a series of shallow wells are drilled to draw out the most-contaminated water, which is then purified through air-stripping towers and filters and blended with imported water supplies. In most cases, officials estimate the process takes a dozen years or more.

Under the Superfund program, businesses and owners of property where contamination is believed to have originated can be held liable for the cost of cleanup, Trombadore said.

The list of possible polluters of water in the Grand Central area includes 16 businesses in Burbank and six in Glendale, with a total of 35 property owners involved.

David Jackson, a consultant with GCG Corp., a Glendale electroplating firm that has performed military contract work for 27 years at 608 Ruberta Ave., said the firm has been working for several years with state water resources officials to investigate the “inadvertent release of solvents” onto the floor of the building.

But he said the company, which has only 15 employees, is “fully confident that as this investigation unfolds that our case will be resolved in our favor.”

Curtis Correll, president of Standard Armament Inc., a machine shop that has operated since 1960 at 631 Allen Ave., Glendale, said his business, which has about 50 employees, stopped using toxic chemicals several years ago.

Correll said the company has spent about $60,000 in the past few years to remove contaminated soil around buildings and expects to spend up to $100,000 more in the next two years. He said the cleanup operation “is taking all of our savings,” but added, “we are very interested in clean air, clean water and a clean environment.”

Comments on the EPA findings and a series of proposals to purify Glendale’s water will be accepted by EPA’s regional office in San Francisco until Tuesday.

After that, EPA and Justice Department officials will decide on how to clean up the water and which companies will be held responsible. Information is available by contacting Fraser Felter, EPA community relations coordinator, at (415) 744-2181.