MORE CHROMIUM 6 ALLOWED CITY LOOSENS GROUNDWATER RULES.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - After hearing testimony from regional regulators that the local groundwater is safe to drink despite chromium 6 contamination, a divided City Council decided Tuesday to put more of the water into the drinking supply.

Citing health concerns related to chromium 6, the city currently dumps about 90 percent of the local groundwater treated at its Flower Street plant into the Los Angeles River.

The remaining 10 percent is blended with imported water to achieve a level of 1 part per billion of chromium 6 - which is substantially below the federal standard of 100 ppb and the state standard of 50 ppb.

``I realize you might have a problem educating the people of Glendale, but the bottom line is, the water is safe,'' said Mel Blevins, the regional watermaster, who oversees water rights for the San Fernando aquifer.

Under the plan chosen by the Glendale council, the city would take water from six low-chromium 6 wells at 4,000 gallons per minute and shut down high-chromium 6 wells.

The resulting chromium 6 level in the city's drinking supply is expected to rise to 3 ppb from the current level of 1 ppb or less.

Councilman Rafi Manoukian, who continued to express reservations about the health effects of chromium 6, supported the plan - which represented a compromise.

Other options presented by the city staff involved taking all or nearly all of the groundwater.

Councilmen Frank Quintero and Mayor Gus Gomez supported the plan, but Councilman Bob Yousefian abstained and Councilman Dave Weaver voted against it.

``I am still not certain of the safety of chromium 6. I am still jittery when it comes to chemicals like this,'' said Manoukian. ``It's a difficult decision, and there are a lot of experts I have listened to.''

A chemical used in chrome plating and aerospace manufacturing processing, chromium 6 is carcinogenic when inhaled, but its effects when ingested have not yet been determined and are under study by the National Toxicology Program.

In a lengthy presentation citing the findings of a number of research studies, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday night stressed to city officials that the groundwater is safe because the chromium 6 levels are low.

Along with the watermaster, they urged the city to make full use of the water.

Bruce Macler, a drinking water toxicologist for the EPA, cited a study showing that chromium 6 levels would have to be as high as 20,000 ppb in drinking water to cause adverse effects in humans.

Macler also discussed another study in which mice and rats drank water contaminated with 15,000 to 400,000 ppb of chromium 6 and still did not suffer any adverse reproductive health effects.

``Basically, our view is (chromium 6) is not an oral carcinogen,'' he said. ``It's toxic at very high levels but not low levels.''