The agency reviewed a range of seven possible limits between one and 30 parts per billion and settled on 10, said Dave Mazerra, acting division chief for drinking water for the department, during a news conference Thursday.
But political officials fear that the draft limit was too high.
“I’m not encouraged by the standard they set,” said Glendale Councilman Frank Quintero.
Glendale has spent $9 million on chromium 6 research during the course of more than a decade. The research has played a crucial role in the health agency’s draft limit, Mazerra said.
Earlier this year, Glendale researchers sent a study to the state health agency stating that the 2011 goal was impossible, given current technology, and water agencies would have to spend tens of millions of dollars to get the limit below five parts per billion, the current level of chromium 6 in Glendale drinking water.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who has long railed against the state agency for taking so long in setting the limit, agreed that the limit should be lower than 10 parts per billion.
“While I would have liked to have seen a lower level, the setting of this standard is a welcome first step. I look forward to public input on the proposed level, which is significantly higher than the public health goal,” Schiff said in a statement.
Glendale meets its self-imposed limit by blending clean but expensive water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California with local water and extracting the contaminant from that local water using its tested removal methods. Glendale researchers are continuing to research removal methods, which so far include the use of resins and microfiltration devices.
