Time for Some Answers

A welcome number of state, city and county politicians have joined outgoing state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) in calling for public hearings and accelerated studies on chromium 6 in drinking water. Meanwhile, local water agencies caution against an overreaction, saying the amount of the chemical found in wells tested so far is too small to be of concern.

Fine. That’s what the public hearings and accelerated studies are for: to present what is known about the chemical and its presence in the San Fernando Valley aquifer and what the state still needs to find out. Among the questions to ask is who’s responsible for chromium 6 being in the water in the first place--it is a byproduct of certain manufacturing industries, including aerospace--and what steps have been taken to clean up sites and stop further leakage.

Some background: Two years ago, the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set a goal of reducing allowable levels of chromium in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 2.5 parts per billion.

Chromium itself is not dangerous, but in heightened levels it can indicate the presence of the toxic hybrid chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen. Tests of Valley wells have turned up chromium in ground water ranging from trace amounts to 30 parts per billion in wells pumped by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and up to 110 parts per billion in Burbank wells, which is more than twice the amount allowed under even the current state standard.

Water officials point out that most of the samples met the less stringent federal standard of 100 parts per billion. And the DWP blends water pumped from Valley wells with other water supplies; once blended, levels of chromium 6 tested at no higher than 5 parts per billion, according to DWP officials, well below the stricter state standard, although not the newer, not-yet-adopted goal.

All of this is supposed to be reassuring--except why set lower standards than the federal government’s if you don’t intend to follow them, and why suggest even more stringent goals if there isn’t a concern?

No, this isn’t a catastrophe of “Erin Brockovich” proportions. Attorney Ed Masry, who represented the Hinkley, Calif., plaintiffs made famous by the movie, says chromium 6 there was reaching levels as high as 24 parts per million.

But the public deserves to know what’s in its drinking water, how it got there and what’s being done to ensure the water’s safety. Plain answers are what the hearings and accelerated studies should provide.