Chromium Tests on Fast Track

The state Department of Health Services said Wednesday that it plans to force public water utilities to begin testing their supplies for chromium 6, even as state legislators were moving to force the agency to accelerate its review of the health threat from the chemical.

Chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen, has been detected in two dozen Valley ground-water wells, including ones operated by the cities of Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale.

State Department of Health Services drinking water chief David Spath said Wednesday that the agency would use its emergency powers to order the start of testing for chromium 6, paving the way to require ground-water testing within months rather than years.

The action by state health officials and legislators follows disclosures by The Times that a plan to reduce chromium 6 levels, proposed two years ago, was still being studied by the Department of Health Services (DHS) and could take another five years to be implemented.

State officials blamed the delay on the need to undertake thorough surveys, health studies and a cost-benefit analysis.

But on Wednesday, Spath said priorities had shifted because preliminary surveys of 30 drinking-water systems across the state found higher concentrations of chromium than expected. High levels of chromium, a benign element, can indicate high levels of chromium 6.

“Given the interest and concern over chromium 6, the department feels it prudent to move forward expeditiously with this regulation,� Spath said.

Also Wednesday, bills were moving through both houses of the Legislature calling for DHS to act more quickly on studies examining the health effects of chromium 6 in ground water.

Under current rules, local water agencies are not required to test for chromium 6, although some utilities, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, have been monitoring for the chemical since 1998.

Introduced Tuesday by state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), SB 2127 calls for DHS to determine the level of chromium 6 in drinking water supplied by aquifers in the San Fernando Valley, assess the public risk and report back to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2002.

“Right now the Department of Health Services is under no mandate to study chromium 6 because there is no legislative indication that this is a priority,� Schiff said. “If we can get this signed by the governor, we are telling DHS we think this is a priority.�

Spath declined to comment on the legislation.

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With the legislative session scheduled to end at midnight Thursday, prospects for the bill appeared uncertain. But Schiff aide Paul Hubler said that even with its late introduction, the bill was “on the fast track and a top priority for the senator.�

Last week, Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) called for expediting a proposal to reduce levels of chromium 6 in public drinking-water supplies. Hayden also asked DHS Director Diana M. Bonta to accelerate the review and implementation of a tougher standard.

Hayden said he supports the Schiff bill for its call to speed up testing for chromium 6 but that he is concerned that the agency had not aggressively addressed the dangers of carcinogens in drinking water.

“I plan to mobilize citizens and health experts to guarantee DHS takes a precautionary approach based on an attitude of better safe than sorry,� Hayden said.

Chromium 6 has been blamed as a cancer-causing agent in several high-profile lawsuits. In a case featured in the film “Erin Brockovich,� residents of the San Bernardino County town of Hinkley won a $333-million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric when the company’s underground tanks leaked chromium 6 into ground-water supplies.

Ed Masry, the attorney who represented the Hinkley residents, said that the state moves were a step in the right direction but that more needed to be done.

“More legislation is needed to deal with issues surrounding chemical contamination of drinking water,� Masry said. “If this isn’t handled now it will be a crisis in the next five to 10 years.�

Two years ago, the state office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment proposed reducing allowable levels of chromium in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 2.5 parts per billion.

Officials for that state office said their health goal is designed to reduce the amount of chromium 6, also known as hexavalent chromium, based on the assumption that it comprises 7.2% or more of each chromium sample, though tests have found chromium 6 is present in more than 50% of some samples from chromium tainted wells.

Local water regulators have said the presence of the chemical in local wells currently varies from trace amounts to concentrations as high as 110 parts per billion in Burbank.

Wells pumped by the DWP range from trace amounts of chromium to 30 parts per billion, or 12 times the proposed state standard.

Toxicologists say chromium 6 is a carcinogen for numerous animal species, including humans, and that it should not be present in water.

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Water officials have maintained that chromium 6 is classified as a carcinogen only when inhaled through the air, not absorbed through water. And, they say, California tap water is already safe because the state’s chromium standards are more than twice as strict as the federal government’s.

They say the effect of a 2.5-parts-per-billion standard for chromium or chromium 6 would be economically devastating, causing the closure of dozens of wells in northern Los Angeles, Burbank and the city of San Fernando.

Water officials also argue that a the proposed standard would force local customers to swallow $51 million annually in added costs for imported water from the Metropolitan Water District and require Burbank to revisit complex water-pollution agreements negotiated between the city and a slew of industrial polluters, including defense colossus Lockheed Martin.