Rewards Are Offered for Identities of Firms Linked to Water Pollution

Disappointed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s delay in cleaning up contaminated ground water in the San Gabriel Valley, about 1,100 members of a church-based community organization voted Sunday to offer rewards to individuals who identify companies responsible for the pollution.

But an EPA official, who spoke at the East Valleys Organizations’ annual assembly at St. John the Baptist Church auditorium in Baldwin Park, said it would be difficult to positively identify the sources of the pollution that has affected 20% of the 200-square-mile San Gabriel Valley water basin and seeped into 245 of the area’s 400 wells.

Under the federal Superfund law, which provides money to remove toxics, the EPA must try to recover expenses from companies that caused the damage.

Long-Term Habits

“While I support the concept of having citizens on the alert for companies that spill (toxic) materials, it’s going to be very, very hard and very complex because for 50 years or longer industry and others have deliberately put contaminants in the ground water,” said Jeffrey Zelikson, director of hazardous waste management in EPA’s western region.

The reward program was endorsed Sunday by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente), and Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).

Both Torres and Roos told the gathering that they would consider proposing legislation in support of the program. Their endorsements were followed by bursts of applause and standing ovations from the audience.

Details of the reward program will be worked out at a conference of EVO leaders, Reiner and Torres. EVO is a coalition of 12 San Gabriel Valley and Pomona Valley churches, and claims a membership of 35,000 families.