Joint Water Cleanup Plan Offered

State and federal authorities Monday announced an ambitious joint plan to clean a toxic component of rocket fuel from the ground water in the San Gabriel Valley.

The 1997 discovery of the chemical perchlorate in the drinking water supply has vexed officials because it cannot be removed by traditional treatment methods.

At a news conference in La Puente, U.S. Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) said he will introduce a bill today to authorize up to $100 million in federal funds to clean up the water and to pay for research.

“This is a problem connected to the defense industry and has a potential to impact half of L.A. County,” Dreier said. “This legislation will call for the federal government to step up to the plate.”

Most of the money for the so-called San Gabriel Basin Drinking Water Initiative would be spent removing perchlorate from the aquifer beneath Azusa, Irwindale and Baldwin Park, officials said. Besides the federal help, the initiative also calls for state legislation that would allocate $10 million for the cleanup.

“If we can help the agencies with the cost, it will speed up the process,” said state Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park), who introduced a bill Friday to exempt agencies from paying sales tax on new water treatment equipment.

Perchlorate can stunt growth by interfering with the normal function of the thyroid gland. In the worst cases, it can cause brain damage in fetuses and a potentially fatal form of anemia in adults.

In the last two years, at least nine area wells have been closed because of perchlorate. The chemical is the residue of defense contractors from the 1940s and 1950s and is slowly spreading underground, roughly along the course of the San Gabriel River toward the Los Angeles Basin, officials said.

No drinking water is being drawn from contaminated wells, officials said, but agencies must act before the perchlorate drifts through the Whittier Narrows and contaminates the Central Basin water supply.

“Both the San Gabriel Basin and Central Basin are extremely important sources of drinking water for residents,” said Wayne Praskins, a Superfund project manager at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Although much of Southern California gets imported water, most San Gabriel Valley residents get their water the old-fashioned way: Rain falls on the mountains, trickles down and percolates into the valley floor. Because the water’s first contact with civilization is the industrial areas of Irwindale and Azusa, much of it has become contaminated, officials said.

The EPA declared the San Gabriel Basin a Superfund site in 1984 because of high levels of volatile organic compounds from degreasing solvents used in industry. The agency targeted 19 companies in the Azusa-Irwindale area that were responsible for the pollution, Praskins said.

In 1997, when state health department scientists developed a new technique to detect perchlorate, the substance was discovered across the state. The three worst areas are Rancho Cordova near Sacramento, Redlands and the San Gabriel Valley, officials said.

EPA officials said they have identified two companies that used rocket fuel in Azusa in the 1940s, but have only been able to link the contamination to Aerojet General Corp.

“In the ‘40s and ‘50s, we didn’t have the environmental culture we have now,” said Kirby Brill, executive director of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority. “They were told to [dispose of] it by throwing it on the ground and lighting it up.”

According to the Superfund law, the companies must pay for the cleanup. That could cost $320 million over 30 years, said Carol Williams, executive officer of the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster.

Dreier said the federal money would give companies that are responsible for the contamination a discount that would persuade them to pay instead of fighting the order in court.

“It would offer a savings to everyone to get the problem solved instead of going on and on and on with litigation and court costs,” said Mark Harmsen, spokesman for Dreier.

Asked about the likelihood of Congress approving the money, Harmsen said Dreier had spoken with key committee members and was encouraged to introduce the bill. It is co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Steve Horn (R-Long Beach) and Matthew Martinez (D-Monterey Park) and Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk).

Monday’s news conference was held in a vacant lot next to an “air stripping” tower, which cleans toxic substances from the water, but was recently shut down because it cannot remove perchlorate.

Officials also unveiled designs for a new treatment plant scheduled to be built in La Puente that uses a technique known as ion exchange to remove perchlorate from water and would be used in conjunction with the tower.

“We need to get the water out of the ground,” Brill said. “We need the cleanup now.”