NORTH HOLLYWOOD WELLFIELD AREA
San Fernando Valley (Area 1) is an area of contaminated groundwater covering approximately 7 square miles beneath the North Hollywood neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles and the City of Burbank. This area is part of the San Fernando Valley groundwater basin, an aquifer which provides drinking water to over 800,000 residents of the Cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, and Glendale, and the La Crescenta Water District. Approximately 3 million people reside within three miles of this site. In 1980, concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), were found to be above Federal Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and State Action Levels in many municipal production wells in the area. Those solvents were widely used in a number of industries including aerospace and defense manufacturing, machinery degreasing, dry cleaning, and metal plating. Some contaminants currently affecting the basin's water supply can be traced as far back as the 1940s, when chemical waste disposal was unregulated throughout the Valley. In response to the public health threat, the cities were forced either to shut down their wells and provide alternate sources of drinking water or blend contaminated well water with water from clean sources. Results of a groundwater monitoring program conducted from 1981 to 1987 revealed over 50 percent of the water supply wells in the eastern portion of the San Fernando Valley Groundwater Basin were contaminated. More than 60 public drinking water supply wells are located within Area 1; 56 are owned and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), and 11 are owned and operated by the Burbank Public Service Department. The shutdown of many of these wells has resulted in the cities turning to more expensive sources of drinking water, and has limited use of a substantial drinking water supply in an area where this resource is already scarce.
19,015 |
People living within a 1 mile radius |
$62,611 |
Average Income |
6,805 |
Occupied homes |
No stories have been submitted for this site.
