San Gabriel Valley : LANDFILL ANALYSIS
The Puente Hills Landfill has been leaking a chemical soup into ground water for years, the State Water Resources Control Board learned from a staff report Thursday.
But the board that oversees California’s water supply delayed a decision on how to address the problem until next month as the landfill’s operator, the county Sanitation Districts, argued that state engineers erred in their analysis.
According to the state analysis, the county’s second-largest landfill, at the junction of the San Gabriel River and Pomona freeways, has “for years” been releasing multiple volatile organic compounds that can break down to human carcinogens.
The analysis also concluded that the landfill is leaking leachate--a liquid produced from decomposing garbage.
The alleged leakage is close to three major underground water reserves that serve 1 million people in the San Gabriel and Whittier areas.
However, Sanitation Districts officials maintain that the state did not examine the correct monitoring wells to get accurate results and that there is no leachate.
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