Toxic Plume Nearing Water Source

Toxic contaminants beneath the former Hughes Aircraft plant in Fullerton have seeped to the edge of a key freshwater aquifer, sparking local worries about water quality despite official assurances that the situation poses no risk.

The contamination is the second discovered on the site in 15 years, and lies about a half-mile from the McColl Superfund site, a former oil-sludge pit capped in 1998 after fouling local water and air for years.

The new contamination was discovered in 1997 and consists largely of chemicals used to degrease metal parts used in the manufacture of radar systems and other Hughes products. The most prevalent of the contaminants is 1,1,1-trichlorethane, or TCE, a suspected cancer-causing agent that also has been linked to liver and kidney damage and birth defects.

The site lies near the center of the main portion of the former plant on Malvern Avenue west of Bastanchury Road, which was largely mothballed when Raytheon merged with Hughes in 1997 and reorganized.

The contamination site measures about 600 feet by 1,000 feet, said Andrew Keller, a scientist under contract with SunCal Cos., which bought the 270-acre site in December 1998 for $60 million.

SunCal has proposed converting the site into a mixed development of 1,250 homes and commercial and light-industrial space.

Joel Rosen, senior planner for the city of Fullerton, said the recently discovered contamination would not affect the development, which is nearing the end of its environmental impact review.

“The contamination is pretty much isolated,” Rosen said.

The bulk of the contaminants are contained in what is called a perched zone, a layer of subterranean water not part of the aquifer that provides drinking water to Fullerton. Heavy metals such as copper and zinc also were found near the surface.

But tests last winter turned up contaminants that had seeped to the edge of the aquifer.

The nearest Fullerton water well is about a mile away, and state and local officials said the situation poses no immediate threat. Still, under environmental regulations officials have held at least one public hearing on the issue, and more will be scheduled as the site investigation continues, officials said.

Raytheon crews already are cleaning up part of the site using a method that sucks contaminants from the ground above the water level. Another method uses pumps to remove contaminated water from the perched zone, clean it, then inject it back in the ground, according to a February report by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

“They’re doing a pretty thorough cleanup job,” said John Carlson, who, as Fullerton’s water manager, has kept track of the situation and remains confident that the city’s water supply is safe.

“I don’t anticipate it becoming a problem,” Carlson said. “I won’t say it can’t. As long as we keep up a consistent and regular monitoring, we’ll be in good shape.”

The cleanup effort follows a similar approach used at another, larger spot discovered 15 years ago on adjacent land leased by Hughes on North Gilbert Street.

By the time cleanup of that site began in 1991, the subterranean plume stretched about a half-mile to the southwest, toward the Fullerton Municipal Airport, and had seeped down about 210 feet, according to accounts at the time.

Since then, crews have pumped about 1,100 gallons of contaminants from the site, said Karl Bernhardt, associate engineering geologist for the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board in Riverside, which is overseeing cleanup of that site.

While most of the work is done, he said, some cleanup will continue “for several years.”

But those official assurances ring hollow with some residents.

“They’re going to say what they want because they don’t want the people alarmed,” said David Humphrey, 41, who has lived in the Malvern Creek condominium complex southwest of the site for 1 1/2 years. “I don’t believe the city officials or politicians, because they’ll say what they want to their advantage.”

Those suspicions expose what one activist described as general public cynicism toward government and corporations that has led to a mix of personal outrage tempered by world-weary acceptance.

“It’s just a big show that they put on,” said one neighbor of the site, who declined to be identified. “They just move dirt around. . . . I’m not concerned anymore because there isn’t anything anyone can do.”

Others are concerned. Coverage of the issue in the local Fullerton Observer, a biweekly newspaper staffed by volunteers, has been critical of how the water contamination matter has been handled. Some of the stories have questioned whether government and Raytheon officials have been forthright in their public pronouncements.

Privately, government officials say the coverage has inflamed passions needlessly, and has muddled further what can be a complex issue.

But Observer editor Sharon Kennedy sees the paper’s coverage, and the critical reaction of some residents, as part of a continuum of interaction between private citizens, giant corporations and distant governments.

“Look at the world and all the things that have happened where citizens and huge companies are facing off against each other,” she said. “It seems like the larger companies aren’t very sensitive to what really happens to neighborhoods. And [state and federal officials were] perfectly willing to sign off on this, too, until neighbors got involved. It looks like we have to protect ourselves.”

Some take exception to the very terms used by environmental health regulators, bridling at the idea that “there’s a certain acceptable risk level, and that out of every 100,000 people, a certain number are going to get cancer and die,” said David Bushy, who as president of the Fullerton Hills Community Assn. was active in pushing for cleanup of the McColl site.

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Fullerton residents bordering the notorious McColl Superfund site have a new toxic problem to worry about: contaminants beneath the former Hughes Aircraft plant next door have seeped into the edge of a key fresh-water aquifer. A look at the neighborhood: