Chromium 6 Water Tests to Be Expanded

Water officials said Tuesday they would speed up and expand planned testing for chromium 6 throughout Ventura County and elsewhere in hopes of clarifying tests by a local law firm that showed levels about 10 times higher than the state’s suggested limit.

Don Kendall, general manager at Calleguas Municipal Water District, which provides water to Thousand Oaks, said tests using more sensitive equipment are needed to determine the level--if any--of chromium 6 in Thousand Oaks water.

Results from the law firm Masry & Vititoe show 2 parts per billion of chromium 6 in tap water at locations in Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills. Those findings, Kendall said, are suspect because that is the lowest level that can be measured by the equipment of the lab that did the testing.

“When you get a hit right at 2 parts per billion, industry practice is that measurement cannot be trusted,” Kendall said.

The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment recommends that drinking water have no more than 0.2 parts per billion of chromium 6. Tests conducted by the Metropolitan Water District, the regional water supplier, during the last two years indicated much smaller amounts of chromium 6--about 0.085 parts per billion--in Thousand Oaks water.

In an attempt to explain the discrepancy between the MWD and the Masry results, officials plan more refined tests immediately, Kendall said.

Adan Ortega, a spokesman for MWD--which supplies all of Thousand Oaks’ water through Calleguas--said both districts are working cooperatively with the law firm and attorney Ed Masry, whose firm won a $333-million judgment in a water contamination case in Hinkley, Calif.

Masry said he is satisfied with the agencies’ efforts, after being surprised to find any trace of chromium 6 in local tap water.

Chromium 6 is known to cause cancer when inhaled in fumes, but the extent of its danger to public health in drinking water is still unclear.