Companies Finalize Deal to Pay for Water Cleanup

Lockheed Martin, ITT Industries and 49 other companies, including Walt Disney Co., have agreed to pay $37.25 million to operate the city’s new ground water treatment system for the next 12 years and to repay government monitoring expenses, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.

The companies had previously agreed to the deal in principle, and Thursday’s announcement formalizes the terms. It ends years of negotiations between the EPA and the polluters over the ground water cleanup costs in Glendale that now total $57.25 million, said EPA attorney Marie Rongone.

In all, the companies have agreed to pay $24 million for the treatment plant’s operation and to reimburse $13.25 million in EPA monitoring costs, Rongone said.

They already have spent $20 million to design and build the treatment system, which has been constructed and could be operating next month, she said.

“A lot of this work has already been done,” Rongone said.

The city of Glendale, part of the state’s largest ground water contamination site, now must await state permits to begin extracting water for treatment and delivery, she said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lockheed Martin and ITT Industries will pay to operate the treatment system for the next 12 years.

“This is good news because substantial public funds spent on this cleanup will be paid back and responsible party funding is secure for the foreseeable future,” said Keith Takata, regional director of the EPA’s Superfund division.

The Glendale ground water treatment plant is similar to those operating in Burbank and North Hollywood.