$100K for chromium removal plan

City will construct treatment facility to remove chromium from groundwater.GLENDALE -- The city has received a $100,000 grant to fund construction of a pioneering treatment facility that will remove chromium 6 from local groundwater.

The money, provided by American WaterWorks Assn. Research Foundation, a water industry trade group, will be added to $900,000 in Environmental Protection Agency grants to build a test facility in the San Fernando Road corridor. The facility is the last step in a three-phase, $3-million program embarked upon in 2002 between Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando to look for ways to rid water of chromium 6, a naturally occurring compound used to finish metal that has been found to cause cancer in humans when inhaled.

There is no large-scale method available to remove chromium from water.

At about the same time as the movie came out, Glendale was preparing to take delivery of treated water from the then new Glendale Water Treatment Plant on Flower Street. The plant, along with eight extraction wells, had been built as part of a federal Superfund program to remove volatile organic compounds found in the local groundwater in the 1980s.

While the plant removed the harmful compounds from the water, city officials became concerned about trace amounts of chromium found in the treated water and began dumping most of it into the Los Angeles River. Following testimony by Environmental Protection Agency experts and a court order, the council decided to lower the city's standards and accept the treated water, but it embarked on the effort to further remove the substance from the local water supply.

The first two phases of the study, conducted in conjunction with local, state and federal agencies as well as researchers from UCLA, Utah State University and the University of Colorado, have already been completed and have identified a filtration process that is effective at reducing chromium 6 to very low levels in water.

"Glendale is very fortunate to be working with these agencies and universities," said Glendale Water and Power Director Ignacio Troncoso. "This is a very dynamic team."

The next step is to test it with a large capacity facility, Glendale Water Services Administrator Peter Kavounas said.