Toxic Water Alarm Raised In County
An alarm has been raised in Los Angeles County over the discovery of highly toxic carbon tetrachloride in water in the San Gabriel Valley.
But Santa Clarita Valley water has received a clean bill of health so far.
A spokesman for the state Department of Health Services told The Signal yesterday that a water analysis for this area “will not at the present time” be ordered.
He added that the department is concentrating on the areas in which contaminated groundwater was found: San Gabriel, Pasadena, and Los Angeles.
An alarm similar to the current one was raised last January upon the discovery of TCE (trichloroethylene) in the ground water of the Los Angeles area, again principally the San Gabriel Valley.
At that time, tests were conducted on the water of several local wells, but only in one — the Newhall County Water District well that supplies the Pinetree area — was JTCE found.
The levels of the chemical were well below the federal government legal limit of five parts per billion (ppb). Only .26 ppb were found, according to district manager Jim Jinks, and subsequent tests showed no traces at all of the toxic chemical.
Referring to the discovery of carbon tetrachloride, Jinks said confidently, “There’s no problem with that here.”
But the managers of three Santa Clarita Valley major water companies — Newhall County Water District, Santa Clarita Water Company, and Valencia Water Company — assured The Signal that they would immediately conduct tests for the toxic chemical should the Department of Health Services request them.
The issue of groundwater contamination has been a major argument against the hazardous waste treatment plant proposed by IT Corporation of, Wilmington for Sand Canyon. The 110-acre site is very close to the Santa Clara River, which supplies not only the majority of Santa Clarita Valley water, but also water for the cities of Fillmore and Santa Paula.
Toxic chemical contamination of groundwater has come under scrutiny by a congressional subcommittee, which reported toxins had reached “alarming proportions” in the water of several areas of the United States.
The panel released a list of 2,100 unlined chemical impoundment sites that were located above usable groundwater sources. The dump proposed by IT will be lined by “impermeable soil from the site itself.”
The House of Representatives Government Operations subcommittee report said “Clean ground water — still bountiful in many areas — is seriously threatened by overuse, indiscriminate dumping of hazardous wastes, improper disposal in unlined pits, ponds, and lagoons and the use of toxic degreasing agents in septic tanks.”
It concluded that, “The situation has become critical in several states, most notably those where industrialization has been the heaviest.”