ARMY CORPS AGREES TO CLEAN MESS AT HANSEN DAM.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

A year after neighbors first decried dumping at Hansen Dam, the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to spend $60,000 to remove oil-tainted soil and garbage from one of the flood-control basins.

The corps will be removing about 500 of the 1,200 cubic yards of sludge, tires, trash and weeds that were collected last spring from the Sepulveda Basin and Whittier Narrows and dumped into the smaller of two former gravel pits at Hansen Dam.

The muck will be removed only along the shoreline of the basin, infuriating some neighbors who have demanded that all the debris be cleaned up.

``They put it all in, why can't they take it all out?'' Lake View Terrace resident Dennis Kroeplin said Friday. ``They just took the pollutants and put them in our pristine lake.''

Kroeplin was taking one of his daily walks at Hansen Dam last year when he discovered - and photographed - the corps dumping the garbage and dirt into their neighborhood lake.

Then a few months later, residents learned the corps had demolished the leaking concrete liner from the nearby swim lake and dumped concrete chunks and twisted enforcement rods in the larger basin. City and federal officials denounced the disposal, and last month the City Council demanded to know why the corps hadn't removed that debris.

The corps recently sent Navy divers in to take water samples from the bottom the 60-foot deep lake, and is awaiting the results before deciding whether to remove the concrete, Army Corps spokesman Greg Fuderer said.

Both debris dumps were part of a quiet plan by the corps to fill in the former gravel pits - now lakes surrounded by plants and wildlife - and turn the area into wetlands. The corps maintained the lakes were dangerous because they were unguarded.

``The thought at the the time in bringing the materials to Hansen was there was a safety issue with the lakes,'' Fuderer said. ``We agree, in hindsight, if we had to do it over again, it wouldn't be there.''

Water quality officials concur and have spent the last year waiting for the results of a test samples taken at the lakes. The board has considered using an enforcement action to speed the corps' response.

``It is simply unacceptable for the corps or, anyone else for that matter, to dump debris at Hansen Dam,'' said Steve Cain, spokesman for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. ``I'm hopeful the affected area will be restored quickly and completely.''

City officials said they were pleased the corps has been making some progress toward removing the debris.

The corps' decision to clean up the lake shore is a positive first step, said a spokesman for City Council President Alex Padilla, whose district includes Hansen Dam.

``We'd like them to complete the loop by doing the water quality testing they said they would be doing,'' spokesman David Gershwin said.

``In both cases, those issues point to the lack of discipline and follow- through on the part of the Army Corps.''

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel also said she's continuing to push for the removal of the concrete and steel rods.

``We've had conversations with the City Attorney's Office to see what options we have relative to cleaning that up,'' Greuel said.