Water Authority Files 2nd Pollution Suit Against Aerojet

COVINA —  The San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority has filed a second lawsuit against Aerojet-General Corp. to recover ground water cleanup costs under the Superfund Act, officials said Thursday.

The suit is aimed at recovering $2 million for the construction, maintenance and operation of the Big Dalton Well Treatment Project in Baldwin Park. The plant was built in 1994 to remove organic solvents from the ground water, but was closed three years later when inspectors discovered toxic byproducts of rocket fuel, which could not be treated by the plant.

Aerojet, in Azusa, has been cited as one of the largest polluters in the San Gabriel area and one of the few that used rocket fuel.

The agency’s first suit against Aerojet was filed in April and seeks $1.56 million in costs for the construction of the La Puente Well Field Treatment Plant--the first in the nation to clean up solvents and the rocket fuel byproducts, called NDMA and perchlorate, officials said.