Photo Credit: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Federal environmental regulators today announced a $1 million settlement with CalMat Corp. requiring the company to design extraction wells and a treatment system at a North Hollywood Superfund site to further clean up a drinking water source and help prevent future groundwater contamination.
As part of the settlement, CalMat will design several extraction wells and a treatment system at the site for dioxane -- a likely human carcinogen -- within two years. The wells and treatment system will help prevent future groundwater contamination and lead to the cleanup of a critical drinking water source, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition, the company will monitor on- and off-site groundwater and will complete a remediation system to address contamination under an existing order with the State of California.
``These investigation and design efforts are critical steps in EPA's cleanup actions at this site,' said Alexis Strauss, EPA's acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. ``Looking to the future, this work will complement local efforts to develop additional water sources.''
CalMat -- also known as Vulcan Materials Co. -- is the former owner of a closed landfill known as the Hewitt site, which released dioxane into groundwater at the North Hollywood West drinking water well field.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power produces groundwater for public distribution from seven well fields near or within the site. Several wells with excessive levels of dioxane have been removed from service and alternate sources have been used to provide drinking water to residents.
Over the past 10 years, groundwater from LADWP well fields have contributed roughly 12 percent of Los Angeles' municipal water supply.