Scott Joins Cry for Chromium 6 Testing

Joining a growing chorus of public officials concerned over the presence of chromium 6 in local water, Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Altadena) asked the Department of Health Services on Wednesday to begin testing for the chemical in tap water across the state.

In a letter to Department of Health Services Director Diana Bonta, Scott said quicker action was needed after tests by Los Angeles County toxicology officials revealed chromium 6 levels as high as 8 parts per billion--about 40 times more than a proposed new standard.

Already, Gov. Gray Davis has signed SB 2127, sponsored by state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), that would require the state health department to determine chromium 6 levels in drinking water supplied by the San Fernando Valley aquifers, assess the risk to the public and report its findings to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2002.

Officials say that while the study will focus on the Valley, its conclusions, particularly with regard to health effects, will be relevant statewide.

A draft regulation by the state Department of Health Services would give the state’s 3,400 water systems until Dec. 31, 2003, to test for chromium 6 and other chemicals, according to a copy provided by Scott.

Scott, in his letter Wednesday to Bonta, said the testing should be completed more quickly.

“Two years is too long to wait,” he wrote. “I suggest that the timeline for statewide testing be expedited by more than a year.”

Department of Health Services Drinking Water Chief David Spath said he had not seen the letter and would reserve comment on any proposal for speeding up water testing or expanding testing to include tap water.

Scott’s letter follows an Aug. 20 story in The Times reporting that a 1998 recommendation for tougher chromium standards was still being studied by state health officials, and that adopting the standard may take another five years.

In the wake of the story, state officials said they would use their emergency powers to order local water agencies to start testing water wells for chromium 6.

Scott, a candidate for the state Senate in the 21st District, called for state health officials to take additional steps, including expanding tests from wells to tap water from across the state.

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He recommended that the state tap water tests be carried out in a year and target samples that already have undergone chlorination and other treatment. Scott also said he would work to provide any additional resources that the Department of Health Services needed to speed up their testing program. But he added that it would be up to the department to decide where and how the tests would be conducted.

Like county and city officials before him, Scott raised questions about whether chromium 6 levels could be elevated by treating water with chlorine.

Spath said chlorine could play a role in converting chromium 3, one of the two forms of chromium, to chromium 6. But he said that link needed to be studied. “Right now, what we know is more theoretical and needs to be confirmed with actual field tests,” he said.

Asked about the timing of his request two weeks before the election, Scott said he had a record of addressing health issues in his district, “whether it was election time or not.”

Although the state has no standard for chromium 6, it does limit total chromium concentrations at up to 50 parts per billion. A state agency has proposed toughening the chromium standard to 2.5 parts per billion, which is intended to reduce chromium 6 levels to 0.2 ppb.

Legal investigator Erin Brockovich and state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) are scheduled to host a “town hall” meeting in Sherman Oaks on chromium 6 contamination in dozens of Valley drinking-water wells.

The meeting will be held tonight between 7 and 9 at Dixie Canyon Elementary School, 4220 Dixie Canyon Road.