Bill to Clean Up Water Runs Into Opposition

A bill that would provide $75 million to clean up contaminated San Gabriel Valley ground water--considered crucial by supporters to prevent pollution from spreading to other parts of Los Angeles County and increased water bills--ran into unexpected opposition Wednesday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

U.S. Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) was surprised by the testimony during a House subcommittee hearing on his legislation. But he remained encouraged about the measure’s fate after gaining the endorsement of Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), the influential chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The legislation would authorize the corps to distribute the money for the cleanup and provide technical assistance to those efforts. But Brig. Gen. Hans A. Van Winkle, the corps’ deputy commander for civil works, expressed concern about the basic approach of expanding the federal cleanup program “one basin at a time.”

During the hearing before the transportation subcommittee on water resources and the environment, the bill’s supporters said that ground water pollution has closed one-fourth of the San Gabriel Valley’s 366 water wells and threatens to spread to other parts of Los Angeles County.

“It is critical that Congress respond to this growing threat before local water agencies are forced to increase the import of costly drinking water to replace the local supply,” Dreier told the panel.

Unless the contaminated water is cleaned up, it could worsen the West’s notorious water wars because water agencies would be forced to compete for limited--and more costly--water from the Colorado River and Northern California.

Dreier’s measure, supported by a bipartisan group of Los Angeles-area House members, would provide the $75 million for cleanup efforts and $25 million for research into the removal of a component of rocket fuel that has been discovered in 180 water wells in California, including in the San Gabriel Valley.

The San Gabriel Groundwater Basin includes about 160 square miles east of downtown Los Angeles and is still the primary source of drinking water for more than 1 million residents.

Nearly two decades have passed since dangerous chemicals were discovered in San Gabriel Valley ground water, with the largest concentration in Azusa, Baldwin Park and Irwindale. The federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1984 declared the region eligible for help under the federal Superfund program. But little actual cleanup has occurred, and efforts have been complicated by the 1997 discovery of perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid disorders.

Officials have proposed a $320-million cleanup program, with polluters paying the bulk of the cost. About a dozen businesses last fall reached a tentative agreement to chip in $200 million.

Dreier said his legislation would give businesses an “incentive to agree to cleanup plans rather than to resort to costly and protracted legal action to limit their liability.”

Testifying over the Internet from California, Ron Merry, president of the San Gabriel Valley Water Assn., told the panel: “It has been 20 years since discovery of the pollution of our basin with no final resolution in sight.”

In response to concerns that the bill would benefit one region, Dreier said the San Gabriel Valley cleanup program could be a model for other communities.

After the hearing, Dreier said he was concerned by the Corps of Engineers’ testimony, but said: “I think we can work it out.”

Dreier was asked when the bill would get to the House floor.

“That’s up to the Rules Committee,” Dreier quipped. He chairs that committee.