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Council presses DWP on chromium‑6 tests, refers East Valley reclamation item for further review
Summary
After public testimony and staff presentations about chromium‑6 in groundwater, the council approved motions asking for more testing, research and coordination, and referred part of the East Valley Water Reclamation Project to committee for further review; the council also requested cost information be included in agency reports.
The Los Angeles City Council voted to press the Department of Water and Power (DWP) and state agencies for more information on hexavalent chromium (chromium‑6) in drinking water and to further review the East Valley Water Reclamation Project amid public concern.
Experts and members of the public spoke at length during the public hearing. Dr. David Morey of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment said his agency set a public health goal of 2.5 parts per billion for total chromium and a reference level of 0.2 parts per billion for chromium‑6 in drinking water. Several public speakers urged halting groundwater pumping or the reclamation project until sources and plumes were better understood. "Total chromium is made up of chromium 3 and chromium 6... In establishing the public health goal we set a level of 2.5 parts per billion for total chromium in drinking water," Dr. Morey testified.
DWP General Manager (Mister) Freeman told council staff had begun testing for chromium‑6 18 months earlier and that DWP's results were below the state standard at the time. Freeman told council members DWP has started research on ion exchange as a possible removal method and urged a coordinated response from state and federal agencies. "We went out 18 months ago and started testing for it, and what we found was well below the state standard," Freeman said, and he urged a local research effort on ion exchange.
Councilmember Chick moved measures directing DWP to coordinate with state and federal agencies on chromium‑6 testing and to lead outreach; Councilmember Wax asked that task-force or study results funded earlier by EPA be made public and that the East Valley Water Reclamation Project be held as it relates to potable use until chromium‑6 implications are addressed. The council accepted an amendment asking for cost analysis of proposed actions and for committee review of specified paragraphs of the motion. The final assembly of motions for items 31 and 32 — including the cost-analysis amendment and the referral of paragraph 3 to the Environmental Quality Committee — was approved on a recorded roll call (13 ayes).
Council direction included: making DWP the lead local coordinator on chromium‑6 issues; accelerating research (including ion-exchange options) to remove chromium‑6; making previously funded task-force studies public; and sending the East Valley reclamation item to the Environmental Quality Committee for detailed hearings and a staff report that includes cost estimates.
