Agency to Study Levels of Chromium in Wells

Still saying there is no cause for concern, local officials have launched a $450,000 study of chromium contamination in San Fernando Valley water wells.

“We see this as an effort to be proactive, looking for sources of contamination that affect our ground water and cleaning them up before it becomes a greater problem,” said Catherine Tyrrell of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which received the study grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Hexavalent chromium, which is used by 26 plating companies in the Valley, has been found to cause cancer in lab animals in amounts far greater than the state standard of 50 micrograms per liter.

State officials have proposed a limit of 2.5 micrograms of chromium per liter of water, the level above which a person drinking the water for 70 years would have an additional one in 1 million chance of contracting cancer, said Kimi Klein, a state health official.

After city officials raised concerns that some wells might have to be closed under the new standard, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power did a survey of 10 water wells in the Valley.

The survey found all but one had higher than 1 microgram per liter of hexavalent chromium--one as high as 4.22 micrograms per liter--but only two had more than the proposed goal of 2.5 micrograms per liter of all chromium. A well near the San Fernando Mission had a chromium reading of 4.22 micrograms per liter, while a North Hollywood well had a reading of 4.1 micrograms per liter.

Valley Watermaster Mel Blevins said the proposed state goal is “totally unrealistic,” and current chromium levels in Valley ground water do not pose a significant health risk, falling well below the level set by existing state and federal standards.

Blevins said he hopes the DWP survey will show state health officials that the proposed goal should be set higher.