County to Begin Testing Water for Chromium 6

Deciding not to wait for action by the state, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to begin immediate testing of drinking water for the presence of chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen.

The motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich calls for county officials to conduct a pilot study that will test drinking water at selected county facilities and report the findings in 30 days. The action came after state officials said it will take months to order local water utilities to begin testing.

Chromium 6 has been detected in two dozen San Fernando Valley water wells used to supplement drinking water supplies for the cities of Los Angeles, Burbank and San Fernando.

Also Tuesday, Los Angeles City Council members Joel Wachs and Laura Chick introduced a motion calling on the Department of Water and Power and the upper Los Angeles River water master to release reports on chromium-related issues compiled over 18 months by a task force of federal, state and local water officials.

Mel Blevins, the court-appointed water master overseeing ground-water pumping rights in the San Fernando Valley, said chromium 6 levels in local water supplies are too small to pose a threat.

In a 1996 case made famous by the film “Erin Brockovich,” residents of the San Bernardino County town of Hinkley won a $333-million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric because the firm’s underground tanks leaked chromium 6 into ground water.

Wachs acknowledged there are additional costs for cleaner water. A stricter statewide standard under consideration could raise the cost of water by forcing local agencies to buy more imported water.

“But what could be more than the cost of cancer, the cost of dying and the cost of lawsuits?” Wachs said. “It shouldn’t take another Erin Brockovich to force the city to protect the public’s health.”

The Times reported last month that a 1998 proposal to cut allowable amounts of chromium in water--to reduce levels of its hybrid, chromium 6--was still being studied by state officials, who said it may take another five years to implement a tougher standard.

In response, state and local officials have called for accelerating studies on the chromium 6 threat.

Wells pumped by the Department of Water and Power have been found to contain levels of chromium as high as 30 parts per

billion, well under the current allowable level of 50 ppb but 12 times the proposed state standard.

Water pumped from San Fernando Valley wells by the DWP is blended with other water and sent to customers across the city, DWP officials said. When blended with imported water, chromium 6 levels were no higher than 5 ppb, said Pankaj Parekh, the DWP’s manager of regulatory compliance.

Wachs and others say chromium 6 is not supposed to be in drinking water at all.

Senate Bill 2127, now on the governor’s desk, calls for the state Department of Health Services to determine chromium 6 levels in drinking water supplied by San Fernando Valley aquifers, assess the risk and report its findings by Jan. 1, 2002. Wachs and Chick on Tuesday urged Gov. Gray Davis to sign the bill.

*

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.