RAINS CLEAN UP TOXINS AT DEVELOPMENT SITE NEAR LAB PERCHLORATE NO LONGER DETECTED AT DAYTON CANYON CREEK.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer WEST HILLS - Heavy rainfall over New Year's weekend apparently washed away much of the contamination from the site of a planned luxury-home development, just days before state toxics officials were supposed to begin digging up the chemical. Where officials found the rocket fuel ingredient perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. at up to 1,300 parts per million parts per million mg/kg or ml/l; see ppm. in the fall - roughly 166 times higher than acceptable limits - they detected none of the chemical in tests taken after the storm dumped about 3 inches of rain on the site. Perchlorate is a salt that dissolves easily and moves with water. ``We wanted to do the right thing, we wanted to make sure we got the perchlorate out of there, but it didn't happen. We had big rains and now it's gone,'' said Sayareh Amir, branch chief of the Department of Toxic Substances Control Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Cleanup Operations. The discovery complicates an already controversial investigation. Last spring, Centex Homes measured very high levels of perchlorate in Dayton Canyon Creek Canyon Creek can mean the following:
In December, the DTSC DTSC Department of Toxic Substances Control DTSC DARCOM Technical Steering Committee announced it would launch an emergency cleanup of the perchlorate Dec. 12, before the rain. But community activists accused the agency of trying to rush the cleanup and erase potential links to the field lab, so it postponed the removal to give activists more time to review the plan. Elizabeth Crawford with Physicians for Social Responsibility said she was disappointed that environmental regulators didn't move faster after the contamination was discovered in May. ``This is exactly what we were afraid of, that perchlorate would be liberated and move off-site,'' she said. Longtime lab watchdogs worry that Centex Homes and the DTSC will not investigate possible links to the field lab now that the high levels of perchlorate have dissipated. Dan Hirsch with the Committee to Bridge the Gap said the agency will not conduct further tests for perchlorate until the rainy season is over in late March. ``If there's still perchlorate anywhere on that property, further rain will cause it to migrate more,'' he said. Amir considers the field lab a potential source of perchlorate and plans to test the soil up to the lab boundary after the rainy season. Despite high concentrations of perchlorate that may have been washed from the creek into the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. , officials said they don't think the chemical will affect water quality or groundwater supplies downstream. ``I'm not concerned about a relatively small amount of perchlorate during a large rain flow,'' said Jonathan Bishop Jonathan Bishop is a British social entrepreneur based in Pontypridd in Wales. He is noted for his work in designing, developing and researching e-learning systems and virtual communities and using new media technology, such as weblogs and websites to engage citizens in political , executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. ``We don't like it, but I'm not concerned that this is going to affect drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. downstream. It's just moving during those rain events to infiltrate (into groundwater).'' Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com IF YOU GO The West Hills Neighborhood Council's Ad Hoc Committee ad hoc committee A committee formed with the purpose of addressing a specific issue or issues, which theoretically is disbanded once its raison d'etre is finished on Dayton Canyon will discuss the perchlorate issue at 7 p.m. Tuesday at West Valley Christian Church, Room 210, 22540 Sherman Way. CAPTION(S): box, map Box: IF YOU GO (see text) Map: Dayton Canyon Creek Daily News |
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