Dumped Chemicals Seeping Into Water Near Jail, Study Finds

Chemicals seized in PCP drug arrests and illegally dumped in roadside pits at the Pitchess jail in Castaic in the 1970s are seeping into ground water, according to a new study conducted for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department estimates that it could cost as much as $50 million to remove all the chemicals, but the report counseled that more study is needed to determine the most cost-effective way to deal with the problem.

The preliminary draft study, prepared by Montgomery Watson, a Pasadena environmental consulting firm, concludes that the problem is so localized that it poses no health risk to the employees or inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center, or to the population of the Santa Clarita Valley. The report will not be submitted to the supervisors until more research is completed, said Ralph Judkins, project manager for the Sheriff’s Department.