Deadline Set Before Fuel Tank Cleanup

State water officials have given the city until Friday to come up with a plan to deal with possible contamination at the city maintenance yard on Basque Avenue and remove underground tanks at a former gas station on West Wilshire Boulevard.

Underground fuel tanks at the Basque maintenance yard and contaminated soil have already been removed. Double-walled tanks have been put in, and several monitoring wells are to test for underground contamination. The state officials sent the city a letter last month noting that one monitoring well detected unacceptable levels of various contaminants and ordered that another such well be installed to determine whether the contamination is making its way into the shallow ground water table, according to a city report. The new well, testing and reporting will cost about $35,000.

City officials must also report on an automobile repair shop at 146 W. Wilshire Blvd., previously a gas station. The officials reported that although no gas has been sold there for several decades, at least four underground storage tanks remain on the property and must be removed. Those tanks were installed in 1926 and permitted by the city retroactively in 1930. Some are within the Malden Street right of way. The city expects to spend about $10,000 removing those tanks. Money for both projects will come from the city’s Capital Improvement Program budget.