[CPEO-MEF] Contractors sues in Orange County (CA)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Toxins Harm O.C. Water, Suit Alleges

District says companies didn't clean sites in Anaheim and Fullerton
where the drinking supply for 2 million could be contaminated

By Sara Lin
Los Angeles Times
December 27, 2004

The Orange County Water District has sued a group of mostly large
industrial manufacturers that it contends has failed to clean up toxic
chemicals that have seeped into the ground and threaten the water supply
for more than 2 million residents.

Though none of the chemicals was detected in county drinking water,
routine monitoring near former industrial sites in Fullerton and Anaheim
turned up traces of the solvent perchloroethylene, or PCE, a suspected carcinogen.

The solvent was found in a shallow aquifer - an underground reservoir
where water collects - that feeds a much deeper basin from which
drinking water is drawn. 

"The responsible parties have not stepped up, and we don't want the
average water user in Orange County to have to pay for something that
they did not do," said Ron Wildermuth, water district spokesman.

The suit, filed Dec. 17 in Orange County Superior Court, seeks tens of
millions of dollars in damages to purify the water and cleanse the soil
- a job the lawsuit says will take a decade. 

Among those named in the lawsuit are Northrop Grumman Corp. - the
nation's third-largest military contractor - MAG Aerospace Industries
Inc., Mark IV Industries, AeroJet-General Corp. and Fullerton Business
Park LLC. Most of the companies named have operated warehouses and
manufacturing plants in the area since the 1960s.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-water27dec27,1,4391089.story?coll=la-editions-orange

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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