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U.S. EPA delists San Fernando Valley Verdugo site from Superfund list

Release Date: 8/11/2004
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, U.S. EPA, 213-244-1815

LOS ANGELES The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has opened the public process to formally delete the San Fernando Valley Verdugo site near Glendale, Calif. from the agency's Superfund List.

"We have done extensive work studying the Verdugo site," said Keith Takata, EPA's Superfund division director for the Pacific Southwest region. "The EPA is satisfied that trace contaminants are well below federal and state standards and this valuable groundwater resource can be returned to the cities with confidence."

Current PCE contaminant levels are below safe drinking water standards and TCE has never been detected above federal standards. The site was listed when EPA tests on the greater San Fernando Valley Superfund sites found levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE), and nitrates in the groundwater samples. The City of Glendale and Crescenta Valley blend area groundwater used as drinking water reducing or eliminating nitrates to within strict federal and state standards.

The EPA's National Priorities List identifies sites that may present a significant risk to public health. A site may be deleted if environmental testing reveals that the site is not a health concern.

The Verdugo Basin covers approximately 2,000 acres. The Verdugo Basin is bounded on the northeast by the San Gabriel Mountains, on the west by the Verdugo Mountains, and on the southeast by the San Rafael Hills.

Comments on the EPA's deletion of the Verdugo Basin may be submitted in writing by mail, fax or email postmarked no later then September 9, 2004 to:
Charnjit Bhullar
U.S. EPA Region IX, (SFD-7-1)
75 Hawthorne Street,
San Francisco, CA 94105
[email protected]

For general information about the San Fernando Valley Superfund sites, visit: www.epa.gov/region9/waste/sfund/index.html