Ground Water Aeration Tower Receives Air Panel’s Approval

Air quality officials Tuesday issued a permit for construction of an aeration tower in North Hollywood designed to remove pollutants from San Fernando Valley ground water but not add significant pollution to the Valley’s air, as many area residents had originally feared.

The approval of the South Coast Air Quality Management District was the last significant hurdle for the controversial Los Angeles Department of Water and Power project, said Walter Hoye, director of engineering for DWP. The state Department of Health Services must also issue a permit before construction can begin.

The tower was proposed more than a year ago by the DWP as a way of removing growing amounts of suspected cancer-causing chemicals from water that flows into wells which supply 15% of Los Angeles’ water.

But the $2.3-million project was held up by community concerns that the 48-foot tower--which mixes water with air and thus causes pollutants to evaporate--would remove contaminants from the water only to add them to the air.

In May, the tower design was modified to include a carbon filter that will trap 90% of the evaporated chemicals before they can escape.

Now, Hoye said, “the amount of air emissions will be so minute that they will be difficult to even detect.”