Concern Mounts Over Chromium 6 in Wake of County Tests

Monica Gainey won’t let her three children drink from the water fountain at the Los Angeles County public health clinic in Burbank--not after learning that levels of chromium 6 in the water are up to 40 times the suggested limit.

“The next time they ask me, I’ll say no,” the 30-year-old Burbank woman said. “I won’t drink the water. But how many people have already been drinking it?”

The Burbank clinic had the highest levels of chromium 6 of 110 county clinics, courthouses, fire stations and other facilities tested by county officials, according to a study released Thursday.

The water at the clinic and other county locations is the same water supplied to residents and businesses in those areas by public and private water agencies.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich proposed the study as a quick means of assessing chromium 6 levels countywide, and said the survey points to the need for the state to impose a tougher standard for chromium 6.

“The governor needs to have the state agencies develop the lowest standard for chromium 6 of 0.2 ppb [parts per billion], and he should help find funding to clean up Los Angeles water,” Antonovich said at a news conference Thursday.

Antonovich said he would ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to require testing for chromium 6 at 200 drinking water wells countywide, with a report due to the board in three months. His motion also calls for county officials to report back in six months on chromium 6 levels in tap water at all county facilities.

Asked if people should stop drinking the water, however, Antonovich demurred, saying “That’s an individual decision.”

Antonovich also called on officials in all of the county’s 88 cities to publicly report chromium 6 concentrations in their municipal supplies.

The state of California has no formal standard for chromium 6, a suspected carcinogen, but instead limits levels of total chromium to 50 ppb. All of the water tested by the county fell below that 50 ppb limit.

In 1999, however, the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment formally proposed lowering total chromium levels to 2.5 ppb.

That proposal--now being studied by the state Department of Health Services--would effectively limit chromium 6 to 0.2 ppb, agency officials say.

The county study said the water at all but two of the county facilities tested would have exceeded the proposed new standard of 2.5 ppb for total chromium.

Drinking water at the Burbank clinic had total chromium levels of 11.4 ppb and chromium 6 concentrations of 7.84 ppb--or about 40 times the suggested level of 0.2 ppb, according to the study by the county’s Weights and Measures Department and Environmental Toxicology Laboratory.

Drinking water at 43 other public county facilities had chromium 6 levels ranging from 2.57 ppb to 7.69 ppb, the study said.

County libraries in Rosemead, El Monte and Hacienda Heights and health centers in La Puente and Alhambra were among the facilities with chromium 6 levels exceeding 4.9 ppb.

Although limited to county facilities, the survey showed that chromium 6 appears to be in water supplies countywide.

“Results of this study confirmed the limited data made available by the state Department of Health Services that local chromium and chromium 6 contamination is prevalent in the drinking water supply,” the report said.

The county Board of Supervisors called for the study after The Times reported Aug. 20 that the state Health Department could take up to five years to act on the tougher standard for total chromium. Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation requiring the Health Department to report to him and the Legislature on the threat of chromium 6 by January 2002.

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Chromium 6 at County Facilities

County officials tested tap water at 110 Los Angeles County locations for chromium 6. These 10 locations had the highest levels of the chemical, shown in parts per billion.

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Total Chromium Facility Location Chromium 6 Burbank 1101 W. Magnolia St. 11.40 7.84 Health Center Burbank Hacienda Heights 16010 La Monde St. 14.20 7.69 Library Hacienda Heights Palmdale Primary 1529 E. Palmdale Blvd. 10.10 6.62 Care Center Palmdale Rosemead Library 8800 Valley Blvd. 14.20 6.60 Rosmead La Puente 15930 Central Ave. 10.40 6.08 Health Center La Puente Alhambra 612 W. Shorb St. 11.30 5.49 Health Center Alhambra Municipal Court 919 1st. St. 9.39 5.44 San Fernando Juvenile Court 201 Centre Plaza 10.50 5.19 Monterey Park North Valley 900 3rd St. 8.78 5.00 Court San Fernando El Monte 3224 N. Tyler Ave. 11.70 4.99 Library El Monte

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Source: Los Angeles County