EPA DECLARES CONTAMINATION SPOT SAFE.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

After nearly 20 years of testing, federal environmental officials have determined that groundwater contamination in the north Glendale and La Crescenta area doesn't need to be cleaned up since it is well within state and federal health standards.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that although they never discovered where the contamination came from, the chemicals are disappearing and pose no risk to drinking water.

``Public health is already safe,'' said Loren Henning, chief of the EPA's Southern California cleanup section. The EPA can now begin the process to take the area off its list of contaminated sites.

The federal agency is collecting public comments on its findings and its proposal not to clean up the remaining low levels of contamination at the Verdugo Study Area. A public hearing is set for Tuesday night in Glendale. The so-called Verdugo Study Area - which includes north Glendale and the La Crescenta areas - was one of four east San Fernando Valley regions examined after extensive chemical contamination was discovered in the early 1980s.

In North Hollywood, Burbank and south Glendale, chemicals used by the aerospace industry and metal platers were found at staggeringly high concentrations. The EPA built two plants to treat and remove the chemicals from groundwater.

But in the Verdugo Study Area, which is separated from the other regions by the Verdugo Mountains, investigators found trichloroethylene (TCE), tertrachloroethene (PCE) and nitrates at varying levels.

PCE was the most prevalent chemical and registered 52 parts per billion in 1982. Current levels are below the 5 ppb drinking water limit.

TCE was never found above the 5 ppb drinking water standards. And nitrate levels have been found around 45 parts per million. The public health goal is 10 ppm, but contaminated water has been blended with clean water to bring the levels below the nitrate limit, EPA officials said.

Don Froelich, water services administrator for Glendale Water and Power, said he's satisfied with the EPA's plan to forgo a cleanup.

``The alternative is to go in and put in a costly chemical removal and treatment system that's not warranted,'' Froelich said. ``The problem seems to have taken care of himself.''

As for the contamination, some people have hypothesized that the contamination could have been caused by a massive illegal dumping in the otherwise residential and light commercial area, Froelich said.

The EPA will present its findings, its proposal for no cleanup and collect public comments at a public meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Verdugo Woodlands Elementary School, 1751 N. Verdugo Road in Glendale.

Public comments can also be sent to Charnjit Bhuller, remedial project manager, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, or e-mailed to bhuller.charnjit(at)epa.gov.