POLLUTION STUDY PACT ON HORIZON GRANT MUST BE USED OR LOST.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The Castaic Lake Water Agency is poised to investigate the size and scope of the pollution in the Saugus Aquifer underneath the defunct Bermite munitions factory.

The board of directors could enter into a cost-sharing agreement Wednesday with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the owner of the contaminated property, Remediation Financial Inc., to map the pollution of the area's groundwater.

``If the board doesn't approve the agreement, that money will evaporate,'' said agency spokeswoman Mary Lou Cotton, referring to a federal grant of $4 million secured for the project by Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon.

To avoid possibly making the problem worse, officials must investigate before treating the contaminated water. They must determine how far the pollution has spread, how deep it is and where it is moving.

To do that, monitoring wells will be drilled throughout the property. Two are expected to be in place by the end of September and the rest by the end of the year. Officials said residents should be able to drink water from the now-polluted aquifer by the end of 2003.

``This is an incredibly important step toward getting the perchlorate out of our water,'' said Bob DiPrimio, an agency board member who also is president of Valencia Water Co.

The 11-member agency board is scheduled to vote on the agreement at its 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Rio Vista Treatment Center, 27234 Bouquet Canyon Road.

Perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid disease, was discovered in four municipal wells in 1997 after being used at the munitions factory in the center of Santa Clarita for nearly five decades.

More than 275 chemicals were used at the munitions factory, and about 40 have been found in the property's soil and groundwater, said a spokesman for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the cleanup.

The initial phase of the cleanup, which will be done by the Corps of Engineers, is expected to cost $4.6 million. The ultimate cost is unknown, but could be as high as $35 million.

``I am encouraged and heartened by the work of the Army Corps,'' said Connie Worden Roberts, who co-chairs a citizens advisory group keeping tabs on the effort.

State officials said the much-delayed cleanup has been complicated by myriad lawsuits. The lake agency has sued RFI and the former owners of the property to force the companies to clean up the groundwater immediately. RFI has countersued in response and named the city of Santa Clarita in its case.

Lake agency officials said the board is set to contribute more than $1 million to examine the location of the pollution plume and to test treatments designed to remove the perchlorate from the water.

The agency hopes to recover those costs through the litigation, said Lynn Takaichi, a consultant working on the project.

RFI has yet to sign any agreement with the lake agency or Corps of Engineers, but all sides said meetings between agency representatives and company officials have been productive.

Once the site is cleared, RFI plans to build Porta Bella, a community of 3,000 homes, a new elementary school, open space and a park.

However, company officials have said RFI is out of cash and unable to continue work on the site unless the Santa Clarita City Council approves their plan to develop each section of the property as it is certified as clean by state regulators.