Firms to Pay for Glendale Water-Treatment System

Lockheed Martin, ITT Industries and 49 other companies, including Walt Disney Co., have agreed to pay a total of $37.25 million to operate Glendale’s new ground-water treatment system for the next 12 years and 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 polluters over ground-water cleanup costs in Glendale that now total $57.25 million, EPA attorney Marie Rongone said.

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 could be in use as early as next month, she said.

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

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

Under 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 ones operating in Burbank and North Hollywood.