BERMITE POLLUTION EXPANDS TOXICS FOUND IN 4 OF 5 WELLS.Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found levels of a toxic rocket fuel component in four out of five monitoring wells drilled on the defunct Bermite munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. factory site in Saugus, officials said. Perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. was also found in one of two wells near a gas station at Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon / valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Soledad Canyon contains the localities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, and Agua Dulce. Road and Bouquet Canyon Road by CH2M Hill CH2M HILL is a global provider of engineering, construction, and operations services for corporations, nonprofits, and federal, state, and local governments with regional offices worldwide. , a contractor working with the Army Corps. Neither well is used to produce drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. , officials said. ``It is clear that the pollution plume has gotten that far,'' said Bill Manetta, president of the Santa Clarita Water Co. ``We're going to test to see if it has gone beyond there.'' In the next phase of investigation, CH2M Hill plans to drill several new monitoring wells, including one near the Hart PONY League Baseball and Softball Complex in an attempt to determine whether the contamination has reached Valencia. The $3.5 million effort was paid for by the federal government, and is expected to be complete by February. Other tests have revealed levels of perchlorate as high as 58,000 parts per billion in the groundwater beneath the hilly land near the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station on Soledad Canyon Road in Saugus. It is the highest concentration of perchlorate discovered to date at the 996-acre former factory, where several companies filled U.S. military orders for everything from dynamite to missiles for several decades, officials said. The initial data also indicates that the plume is thinner than officials originally expected, but the toxin is more concentrated in the water, officials said. The discovery of the high levels of perchlorate on the far western edge of the hilly property might lead to the source of the contamination that has shut down five drinking-water wells in the area, according to officials with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the cleanup of the site. The data were taken from five 1,600-foot-deep wells drilled last year below an area known as Burn Valley, where munitions tests were conducted. Whittaker Corp., which operated the factory until it closed in 1987, is also expected to drill several test wells on the polluted property in the coming months to aid the effort to map the plume. Perchlorate has been shown to interfere with thyroid function and pose a danger to the development of infants in concentrations as low as 1 part per billion, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and . Four municipal wells were shut down in 1997 after tests revealed that the water contained as much as 45 parts per billion of perchlorate, while another was capped last year. The wells are about a mile away from Burn Valley, said DTSC DTSC Department of Toxic Substances Control DTSC DARCOM Technical Steering Committee project manager Ken Baez. The tests also revealed that the well water contained volatile organic chemicals and other toxins, according to CH2M Hill. Tests in another area of the property revealed perchlorate about 65 feet below the surface in concentrations as high as 14,000 parts per billion, Baez said. Local water agency officials and the DTSC are working to develop a plan to clean up the water via a pump-and-treat program that would restore the capped wells to service and slowly rid the Saugus and the alluvial aquifers of the toxic chemical. The DTSC is waiting for more data before approving such a treatment system for fear pumping could spread the contamination, Baez said. Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. residents use a combination of groundwater and water imported from Northern California by the Castaic Lake Water Agency. In the event of a drought, residents would be forced to rely on water in the Saugus Aquifer. While the California Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
State law requires officials to begin enforcing a perchlorate standard for drinking water by Jan. 1. That progress is ongoing, but will likely be delayed, officials said. Heather MacDonald, (661) 257-5257 heather.macdonald(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): map Map: Defunt Bermite explosives factory |
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