CHROMIUM 6 TESTS URGED SCV WATER AGENCIES ASKED TO SEARCH FOR CARCINOGEN.

Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The state health department is urging California's water agencies to begin testing their water for chromium 6, including those in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Because of public concern, the Department of Health Services' Division of Water and Environmental Management plans to add the substance, known as a carcinogen in animal studies, to the list of unregulated chemicals that eventually will be required to be monitored in drinking water, spokeswoman Lea Brooks said.

The water providers that will be required to do the testing include the Castaic Lake Water Agency, the Santa Clarita Water Co., the Valencia Water Co., and the Newhall County Water District.

With these data, the department hopes to discover how much chromium 6 is in the ground, Brooks said. Those results will determine whether legislation should be changed to lower the amount allowed in water, and whether more lethal chromium 6 should be tested separately from chromium. The study could take several years.

In 1999, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment established a public health goal of 2.5 parts per billion for total chromium and 0.2 ppb for chromium 6. But these are goals, and currently the state requires less than 50 parts per billion of chromium in drinking water. It doesn't regulate how much of that is allowed to register as chromium 6.

Robert DiPrimio, president of Valencia Water Co., said Monday that the company is in the process of complying with the department rules, but so far there are no results.

``We are concerned about protecting public health, so we are taking the step to sample our water supplies,'' DiPrimio said. ``We don't think we have that kind of industry in the valley that would make that compound prevalent, but until we get results from the lab, we don't have that information for our customers.''

The company will test for chromium 6 like any other metal compound by collecting samples, DiPrimio said. The results will then be sent to a laboratory.

``In general, our water supplies in the Santa Clarita Valley are safe,'' he said. ``They are tested routinely, every day, comprising thousands of tests a year. We are very confident we have a safe, high-quality water supply.''

Dustan Campbell, water production/quality technician for the Newhall County Water District, said it is waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to hand down the regulation before it begins testing for chromium 6.

But the public water retailer has already received its quarterly samples of chromium, which was well below the state recommendation of 50 parts per billion, he said.

Mary Lou Cotton, assistant to the general manager of Castaic Lake Water Agency, said it has never detected chromium in its surface water supply, so testing for chromium 6 isn't necessary.

The water agency and the Santa Clarita Water Co. will continue testing for chromium, and if ever detected, it will test for chromium 6, she said.

Chromium can seep into groundwater through several sources, such as steel, pulp mills, dye and paint pigments, wood preservatives, chromium and erosions of natural deposits.

``That's why we would like more information to see how widespread it is and how much there is,'' Brooks said.