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Bill Signed on Water Test to omiuihil Si nes Page 2 of — <br /> ...,... <br /> Hayden said. "But it does not mandate a chromium <br /> 6 standard and won't protect public health <br /> travdsS pe qe "Nobody should be under the illusion..thatlw <br /> will protect the drinking water." <br /> The legislation was introduced after The Times: r <br /> reported Aug. 20 that the state health department <br /> had yet to implement tougher standards for <br /> chromium, intended to reduce levels of its toxic <br /> byproduct chromium 6, two years after the action <br /> was recommended by an official in the state Office <br /> of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. <br /> The health department's drinking water chief, <br /> David Spath, initially told The Times it could take <br /> an additional five years to act on the proposal. <br /> But after the Legislature approved the bill, Spath <br /> said his agency intends to use its emergency powers <br /> to order local water agencies to start testing for <br /> chromium 6 in a matter of months. <br /> And in a Sept. 27 letter to Hayden, Department <br /> of Health Services Director Diana Bonta said a new <br /> chromium or chromium 6 standard could be in place <br /> within two years after the agency begins requiring <br /> water utilities to test for chromium 6. <br /> "The department's proposed emergency <br /> regulations for monitoring chromium 6 will <br /> significantly reduce the time frame," Bonta said. <br /> "However, collection of sufficient chromium 6 <br /> occurrence data . . . will take at least one year." A <br /> cost-benefit analysis, she said, "will require a <br /> minimum of six months to complete." <br /> Chromium 6 was at the center of a famous toxic <br /> pollution case in Hinkley, Calif., that became the <br /> basis for the movie "Erin Brockovich." Brockovich, <br /> a legal investigator, appeared before the Los <br /> Angeles City Council this month to urge tougher <br /> standards for chromium 6. <br /> Hinkley residents won a $333-million settlement <br /> from Pacific Gas & Electric because the utility's <br /> underground tanks leaked chromium 6 into the <br /> water. But levels there were 24 parts per million, <br /> exponentially higher than levels in Los Angeles-area <br /> water ground water. <br /> Although a formal chromium 6 standard has not <br /> been established, the state Office of Environmental <br /> Health Hazard Assessment believes drinking water <br /> should not contain more than 0.2 parts per billion of <br /> chromium 6, said Alan Hirsch, an agency <br /> spokesman. <br /> Some scientists believe chromium 6 should not <br /> be present in water at all. But water officials say <br />