SAN GABRIEL VALLEY : EPA Proposes $47-Million Plan to Treat Polluted Water
In an initial effort to solve one of the nation’s most extensive underground water pollution problems, federal environmental officials Friday released a tentative proposal to build $47 million worth of treatment facilities in the central San Gabriel Valley cities of Baldwin Park, Irwindale and Azusa.
The officials say they hope to finance the project by negotiating settlements with two to three dozen businesses suspected to be among the major contributors to the pollution that was caused by solvents and degreasing agents. Construction could start within the next two years, officials said, adding that the treatment projects will cost $4 million annually to run.
“EPA believes this proposed plan is an enormous step in the overall cleanup,” said Jeff Zelikson, an official in the Environmental Protection Agency’s San Francisco office.
Federal officials in 1984 put the entire San Gabriel Basin on its Superfund list of national environmental cleanup priorities. Federal and state officials have estimated the cleanup could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
On May 20, the EPA will hold a meeting at Baldwin Park City Hall to get public comments on the proposal.
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