An Effort to Clear the Waters : Pollution: Frustrated by delays, Rep. Torres is proposing a public works project to tackle the area’s contamination problems.

A San Gabriel Valley congressman, citing his frustration over a decade of delays in solving the region’s severe ground-water pollution problem, has announced he will propose legislation for a public works project to jump-start the cleanup.

The plan by Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente), to be formally unveiled today, would rely heavily on cooperation and financing from businesses and industries, which would pay most of the money required to eliminate contamination of the San Gabriel Basin. Estimates of the cost have varied from $350 million to $1 billion.

The proposal represents the first time federal legislation has been specifically proposed to attack the pollution, considered one of the worst problems of its kind in the nation. In 1984, the entire San Gabriel Basin was put on the federal Superfund list, which is now made up of 1,200 sites with the country’s most serious environmental hazards. Until last year, state and regional water officials and local water agencies were under the impression that the federal government and the Environmental Protection Agency would largely oversee and finance the cleanup. But federal officials now have said that Superfund cannot provide the necessary funds.

“EPA is clearly not going to do the job for us,” said Torres, who plans to introduce the bill in mid-July. “Superfund is clearly not working for the San Gabriel Valley.”

Under the Torres plan, an estimated 600 businesses and industries would be called upon to voluntarily contribute their “fair share” toward cleanup. As proposed, 95% of the businesses would have to agree to participate in order for the plan to go forward.

Contributions would be based on a company’s size, the nature of its business and its proximity to contaminated wells. About one-fourth of the region’s 400 wells have been polluted by chemicals found in industrial solvents and degreasing agents.

The incentive to businesses, Torres said, would be that they would be absolved of any further Superfund liability regarding the pollution.

The federal and state governments would pay 20% of the cost of the project, which is designed to cover 180 to 200 square miles but is concentrated mostly in Whittier Narrows, Azusa, Baldwin Park and the Puente Valley, near La Puente and Industry.

Local water officials, environmentalists and business leaders reacted generally favorably to the Torres plan.

Although he questioned placing too much of a burden “on the backs of industries,” businessman Mark Freitag said he is encouraged by Torres’ action. “The question with any proposal is can it be done in a timely manner,” said Freitag, treasurer of the environmental legal fund of the South El Monte Property Owners Assn.

The most enthusiastic support came from environmentalist Jesse Martinez, chair of the toxics committee of the grass-roots group the East Valleys Organization. “We support the legislation wholeheartedly,” he said, “because we want somebody to do something about the problem now.”