Officials OK $45-Million Water Treatment Plant

Water officials have unanimously approved a major cleanup project in the form of a $45-million treatment plant for the massive underground water pollution of the San Gabriel Valley that was discovered more than a decade ago .

The plant on eight acres in Irwindale near Baldwin Park will be among the nation’s largest such facilities and will be designed to remove pollutants from some of the filthiest water below the two cities and Azusa. The project and its environmental impact report received the final stamp of approval Wednesday night from the Three Valleys Municipal Water District board. It is the first major step toward cleaning up the nation’s largest Superfund site and removes a stigma that business leaders say has hampered the valley’s growth.

“This will ensure the region’s economic recovery and guarantee a water supply long into the future,” said Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera). “It has taken 12 years, but it was all worth it. . . . This has become a model Superfund cleanup.”

Torres said that unlike the situation with most Superfund sites, the companies responsible for the pollution came to the table to help tackle the problem instead of litigating.

In a unique public-private partnership, the plant will be financed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and 16 companies that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers responsible for the contamination plaguing the underground water basin that serves 1 million people from Alhambra to La Verne, said Richard W. Hansen, general manager of Three Valleys, which will build and operate the plant. He said the 16 companies will pay less than the normal cost of cleaning up water because the purified water will be sold. Hansen said that construction is expected to begin next year and that the plant will begin operation in late 1998.

In 1984, the EPA placed four toxic areas in the 160-square-mile underground basin on the Superfund list, five years after degreasing agents and solvents used in manufacturing, some cancer-causing, were discovered in local wells. Although wells near the hot spots were shut down and the area’s drinking water has remained safe, the plant is needed to stop the problem from spreading, said Nathan Lau of the EPA’s Western Enforcement Division.

“We think this is a major economic boost to the valley. This removes the fear of Superfund liability for companies coming here and allows medium-size companies already here to grow,” said Will E. Lee, executive director of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Council, a manufacturers’ group.

The plant will take millions of gallons of ground water from wells, remove the pollutants in air-stripping towers and pump the clean water into the Metropolitan Water District’s regional distribution system. Three Valleys officials say they got involved because the plant will be a source of local water and a protection against drought for their customers.

On Wednesday night, Three Valleys overcame objections from Baldwin Park leaders and the East Valleys Organization, which had recently packed hearings to complain about potential noise, blight and dangers of the plant near a residential area. Three Valleys officials promised mitigation--including plant modifications--while rejecting an alternative Baldwin Park site promoted by that city. Three Valleys President Henry Barbosa said, “The decision to begin the cleanup signifies the rebirth of the San Gabriel Valley.”