CLEANUP BEGINS SOON WORK SET THIS WEEK AT BERMITE MUNITIONS SITE.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - After years of delays, cleanup work will finally begin this week on one of the most polluted sections of the defunct Bermite explosives factory in Saugus.

As part of a pilot program paid for by the former operator of the munitions plant, workers will dig up a small portion of Area 55 in an attempt to figure out the best way to get perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel, out of the soil.

``We're hopeful that this will help us determine what is the most effective way of remediating this soil,'' said Sara Amir of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the effort.

Although the full extent of the pollution on the 996 acres in the center of the city has yet to be mapped, Santa Clarita leaders have been urging state officials for months to begin cleaning up known hot spots on the hilly land immediately.

``It's a really small piece of land,'' said Santa Clarita Planning Director Jeff Lambert. ``We're glad that something is happening, but we'd like to see progress happening faster and see more of Area 55 cleaned up.''

The fastest way to stop the spread of the pollution plume is to remove the sources of the contamination, like Area 55, Lambert said.

The pilot program, which will take three to six months to complete, will begin with the removal of volatile organic chemicals from the soil with a vapor extraction machine, said Ken Baez, the project manager for the DTSC.

Workers then will dig up a small part of Area 55, dividing the dirt into sections of about five cubic yards each and spreading it out on the surface. Investigators will then douse the dirt piles with two different chemicals designed to encourage the growth of naturally occurring bacteria in the soil.

The multiplying bacteria will be forced to use the perchlorate as a source of oxygen, which is needed to generate energy and fuel. That will break down the perchlorate and clean the dirt, Baez said.

Investigators plan to test the effect of ethanol on the perchlorate in the dirt as well as another chemical, which will be selected by the DTSC based on the results of lab tests now under way, Baez said.

Perchlorate, which is a propellant, has been shown to interfere with thyroid function and to 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.

Several companies, including Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp., which is funding the pilot program, manufactured everything from dynamite to missiles used by the U.S. military at the Bermite factory for several decades.

State officials believe that perchlorate leeched from those operations into both the shallow and deep water aquifers and shut down five municipal wells. Recent data gathered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show the contamination is moving northwest toward Valencia.

Heather MacDonald, [phone]

heather.macdonald(at)dailynews.com