Water Is at Risk, Report Finds

Ground water contaminated with the pollutant chromium 6 has migrated near wells and water-treatment facilities that serve Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles, underscoring the need for federal regulators to lead a cleanup effort, a new report concludes.

The document further warns that inaction by the federal Environmental Protection Agency could result in the closure of water-cleansing wells and thus cause the three cities to lose a valuable local water supply.

“The EPA needs to get their act together,” said Mel Blevins, who prepared the report, funded by the three cities, as the court-appointed water master who oversees pumping and water-quality rights for the upper Los Angeles River area.

Blevins wants federal officials to order as many as 60 companies suspected of contaminating ground water with chromium 6 to add the chemical to a list of pollutants the companies are already required to remove from water supplies.

He also wants Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board officials to enforce clean water standards through cleanup and abatement orders.

Lisa Fasano, an EPA spokeswoman, said her agency is reviewing the report and is working closely with Blevins.

A spokesman with the water quality control board could not be reached Friday for comment.

The threat of well closures and other problems posed by a migrating chromium 6 plume is not imminent, according to Los Angeles and Glendale officials, because it is moving slowly.

They support the report’s recommendation for action, and their cities are helping to fund a study to develop technology to remove chromium 6 from water supplies.

“It’s still some distance away from where we’re actually pumping water to our customers,” said Jerry Gewe, assistant general manager of water services for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “It’s years away.”

“We’re certain the way things are going that the concentrations could increase,” added Donald Froelich, water services administrator for the city of Glendale.

Blevins is not as confident that it could take years for the migrating chromium 6 plume to reach wells in Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles.

Chromium is a metallic element found in nature and used industrially to harden steel and make paint pigments.

Chemical reactions can change some amount of chromium into chromium 6, a toxic form of the metal that is considered a carcinogen when it is inhaled.

Scientists are divided, however, as to whether drinking water that contains moderate levels of chromium 6 poses a health risk.

Federal and state officials are studying the matter.

Because water currently delivered within the upper Los Angeles River area is blended with supplies containing almost no chromium 6, the deliveries have not exceeded state or federal chromium standards.

The report prepared by Blevins cites a Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board investigation confirming chromium 6 concentrations of up to 1 million parts per billion in certain portions of the San Fernando Basin.

Under state standards, chromium may not pass 50 ppb. The federal standard is 100 ppb.