CONVERSION PROCEDURE MAY RESOLVE CHROMIUM 6 ISSUE.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - With no established technology for removing chromium 6 from local groundwater supplies, city officials are focusing on an experimental yet promising process that could convert the contaminant into a nutrient.

McGuire Environmental Consultants, which has been retained to solve the city's water contamination problem, has proposed further research on using stannous chloride - a corrosion control agent already approved for use in drinking water - to convert chromium 6 to chromium 3.

Recommended at 50 to 200 micrograms per day for adults, chromium 3 is a necessary nutrient that helps the body process sugar.

A variant, chromium 6, is an industrial byproduct that leached into Glendale's groundwater from decades of pollution by defense and aerospace industries. Although chromium 6 is known to cause cancer in humans when inhaled, its effects when ingested are still being studied.

``We are all very excited. (The conversion proposal) is a whole new approach,'' said Don Froelich, the city's water services administrator who is charged with resolving the chromium 6 issue.

``It could represent a solution to our problem - something that could be done much quicker as opposed to a full-scale process to remove chromium 6 that is unknown at this time.''

Officials say the city would have to spend millions of dollars to develop technology to remove chromium 6 from the water, then build a brand new facility to do the work. By comparison, they say, the conversion process could be implemented at the treatment plant on Flower Street.

Currently, most of the chromium 6-contaminated water treated at the plant is being dumped into the Los Angeles River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. Only a small portion is piped to homes and businesses after being diluted with uncontaminated imported water.

With the Upper Los Angeles River Area Watermaster threatening legal action unless the city stops the dumping in October, city officials are eager to test the conversion method.

``The watermaster has made it very very clear there has been a significant amount of time the discharge has been occurring. He wants to see something done to eliminate it or minimize it,'' said Froelich.

Mike McGuire, the consultant firm's president, said that when stannous chloride - essentially tin with chloride - is added to water tainted by chromium 6, a chemical reaction changes chromium 6 to chromium 3 almost instantaneously.

The privately owned Park Water Co. tested the process in July in a well in Apple Valley, and the results were very successful, said Gary Lynch, the company's vice president of water quality.

Lynch said the city of St. Paul, Minn., has used stannous chloride safely in its water for corrosion control to reduce lead and copper.

McGuire plans to contract with university laboratories to conduct research on the conversion method in the next few months.

``We need to prove it works,'' he said. ``or prove to our satisfaction there are no secondary effects.''

Pending the results, the city would apply for permission from the California Department of Health Services to use stannous chloride as a permanent additive in the water supply.

Dave Spath, chief of the drinking water and environmental management division at the state agency, said if the process is proved safe and effective, approval could come in three to six months.