‘Excessive’ Chromium 6 Levels Found in Area Tests

Tap water tests at 100 Los Angeles County facilities found what one official called “excessive” levels of chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen, but officials cautioned that results are preliminary and additional testing is needed.

The tests, conducted at fire stations, health centers, courthouses and other county-owned buildings, found chromium 6 levels ranging from trace amounts to as high as 7.5 parts per billion in several places, said Wasfy Shindy, director of the county’s environmental toxicology lab.

State officials have proposed tougher standards for chromium as a means of reducing levels of chromium 6, which water agencies are not required to test for under state rules.

The proposed new chromium standard is 2.5 parts per billion. Although a formal chromium 6 measure has not been established, the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment believes drinking water should not contain more than 0.2 parts per billion of chromium 6, said Alan Hirsch, an agency spokesman.

The county tests were conducted at 20 sites in each of the five supervisorial districts. The tests were ordered two weeks ago by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors following reports in The Times that state officials were still studying tougher chromium standards two years after they were first recommended.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said the results are worrisome because officials had expected to find minute concentrations of the chemical.

“Preliminary findings indicate excessive levels of chromium 6 in some of the county’s health facilities,” Antonovich said. “Countywide the levels are higher than was anticipated.”

Both Antonovich and Shindy, however, stressed the results were preliminary and subject to a follow-up study expected to be completed in 10 days.

Chromium 6 was the chemical at the center of a famous toxic case in Hinkley, Calif., that became the basis for the film “Erin Brockovich.” Concentrations there were exponentially higher, however--24 parts per million, compared with up to 7.5 parts per billion in the county tests.

Some scientists believe chromium 6 should not be present in water at all, but water officials say there is insufficient scientific evidence linking chromium 6 to illness and that concentrations in local water supplies are safe.

The state’s current standard for total chromium is 50 parts per billion, and the federal standard is 100 parts per billion. The proposed new “public health goal,” or standard of 2.5 parts per billion, is now being studied by the state Department of Health Services.

Department of Health Services drinking water chief David Spath declined to comment on the county test results, saying there were many questions that had yet to be answered on the risks of chromium 6 and occurrence through the state.

“We want to get through a process that’s been defined by the law,” Spath said. “It doesn’t help anyone to speculate about certain levels of chromium 6 in the water.”

Chromium 6 has been found in water pumped from aquifers in the San Fernando Valley. Last month, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power closed two of its Valley wells, citing high concentrations of chromium.

Officials with the DWP and other water utilities, however, have said tougher standards would raise water rates by forcing the agencies to close wells and import more water.

Also, the economic impact of a tougher standard must be evaluated under the state’s 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act, the law responsible for triggering the state’s review of chromium 6 in water.

But Antonovich said he was frustrated with that point of view.

“I have a sense of concern and frustration that the water districts are not placing this issue on the front burner,” Antonovich said. “It’s a countywide and perhaps statewide problem that requires the state and federal government to clean up the water supply.”

In addition to the local response, the state Legislature passed SB 2127, requiring an accelerated review of the Valley’s chromium-tainted water. The bill now sits on Gov. Davis’ desk.

Two legislators, state Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), have called for hearings.