Buck Wargo
DOWNTOWN -- Twenty-seven Glendale properties and 64 more from Burbank
will be investigated by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control
Board to determine if they are responsible for contaminating ground water
with chromium 6.
The board released a list Monday of 142 companies and properties where
chromium was stored and used in the past. Letters were mailed to the
companies on Thursday asking them to fill out a questionnaire to provide
more information about chromium use.
A list with another 100 companies is being prepared and will be mailed
out in upcoming weeks, officials said.
The release of the list came during a workshop sponsored by the water
board to learn more about chromium 6 contamination in the San Fernando
Valley aquifer. The board can order companies to clean up contaminated
soil. Its investigation can lead to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency going to court to get them to pay for a cleanup of drinking water.
More than 125 people attended the hearing at the Hilton Glendale.
Concern over chromium 6 in drinking water has been spurred by the
existing standard of 50 parts per billion of total chromium when a public
health goal suggests a standard of 2.5 parts per billion.
David Spath, chief of the drinking water division of the state
Department of Health Services that has the authority to lower the
standard for chromium, continued to downplay the concerns over chromium 6
-- a known carcinogen when inhaled whose health effects in water are
still being debated.
A review by his department found no higher incidence of lung a stomach
cancer in the San Fernando Valley compared to other parts of California.
He said much of the chromium may be traced to occuring naturally, and he
encouraged water systems to continue using the ground water.
"With stomach cancer cases in the San Fernando Valley, there are no
increases are compared to other parts of the state," Spath said.
Glendale is not accepting the water and will likely have to decide
whether to do so by the end of December. The city could face penalties
from the U.S. EPA if it does not accept the water.
Inspectors from the regional board are expected to go to the 142
properties in the next year to determine if there is any contamination.
The list was developed during a 1980s federal Superfund investigation of
industrial solvents in the soil.
Many on the list are corporations in the Golden State (5) Freeway
industrial corridor that extends from Glendale through Burbank and into
Los Angeles. It includes the former General Electric Co. property at
11115 Vanowen St. in North Hollywood that is owned by the Los Angeles
Times.
Even the city of Glendale is on the list for its Public Works
Department corporate yard at 541 W. Chevy Chase Drive.
"This is the first I have heard about it," Steve Zurn, assistant
public works director said. "It is an old piece of property. Who knows
what was on it in the past. We will take a look at it."
Most of the chromium in the ground water is believed by investigators
to have been leaked or spilled in the soil decades ago.
Others on the list include Automation Plating, 927 E. Thompson Ave. in
Glendale, a zinc plating company owned by Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins.
The listing was a surprise to some Glendale businesses. Arnulfo
Behena, store manager for Armstrong Garden Center, 5816 San Fernando
Road, said he doesn't understand why a nursery is on the list. The
company does not use chromium, he said.
"I just assumed it was a mistake," Behena said.
