Hexavalent Chromium

A plume of chromium-tainted groundwater is once again bearing down on residents of Hinkley, Calif., where more than a decade ago an underdog battle with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spawned a multimillion-dollar settlement and the Oscar-winning film "Erin Brockovich. " FOR THE RECORD: Water contamination: An article in the Nov. 15 Section A about groundwater contamination in Hinkley in San Bernardino County referred to the substance involved, hexavalent chromium, as a heavy-metal isotope.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is one of the main talking heads of Oscar-winning director Jessica Yu's "Last Call at the Oasis,"a new documentary sounding the alarm about an impending global water shortage from the producers of "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Food, Inc. "The film looks at diminishing water sources in Central California's agricultural belt and in Nevada's Lake Mead, which could affect L.A. if trends continue. Brockovich, an Agoura Hills resident who was portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 eponymous biopic, has continued her work on behalf of communities with water pollution as the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting.

Hexavalent chromium has been found at high levels in tap water in some U.S. cities. The report comes from an environmental advocacy group that urges federal regulators to adopt tougher standards for hexavalent chromium in drinking water. But what's toxic and what's safe remain in question. And now the Environmental Protection Agency promises to study hexavalent chromium and may order cities to start testing their tap water. Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne will discuss the issue during an online chat Wednesday at 10 a.m. PST (noon CST and 1 p.m EST)

Glendale Water & Power plans to spend another $550,000 on a research project for stripping cancer-causing chromium VI from local groundwater, a process that already has cost $7.8 million. City officials say they need to make the expenditure because the current removal method has some drawbacks and the state may tighten restrictions. The new funding comes from a coalition of stakeholders as California officials consider tightening restrictions on how much of the toxic element — already at 50 parts per billion — is allowed in potable water.

Hexavalent chromium. The term sounds high-tech and slightly ominous to those unfamiliar with it -- and apparently few people are familiar with it. Hexavelent chromium is currently piquing online readers' curiosity. The highly publicized specter of potentially toxic water can do that. So here are some basics.... Hexavelent chromium is, quite obviously, a form of the element chromium. The heavy metal is more commonly called chromium 6 and it's used in the production of stainless steel, pigments and protective coatings.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has expressed interest in buying about 100 properties in the town of Hinkley, Calif., that are near a plume of groundwater tainted by cancer-causing hexavalent chromium. The utility, which reached a $333-million settlement with 660 Hinkley residents in 1997 for alleged injuries from chromium-laced water that leaked from its disposal ponds, hand-delivered letters last week expressing interest in purchasing the homes. "Some folks have called us back wanting to know more.

The California Environmental Protection Agency has issued the nation's first public health goal for hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing heavy metal made infamous after activist Erin Brockovich sued in 1993 over contaminated groundwater in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. At that time, the average hexavalent chromium level in Hinkley's water was 1.19 parts per billion (ppb). The new state goal was set Wednesday at 0.02 ppb, the level of the element that does not pose a significant health risk in drinking water, according to state officials.

The Labor Department reduced the acceptable levels of workplace exposure to a cancer-causing metal, hexavalent chromium, but critics said the new standard still left thousands of workers at risk. The new rule limits worker exposure to the carcinogenic metal to 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air, a large reduction from the old standard but a higher level than what had been proposed by the agency two years ago. The old standard, issued in 1971, was 52 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

The Valley's watermaster has assured a Los Angeles City Council committee that local drinking water is safe. Last month, City Councilman Joel Wachs called for an investigation of hexavalent chromium in drinking water. Tests have found that the substance caused cancer in laboratory mice when taken in very high doses. The state office of environmental health hazard assessment is considering a proposal to dramatically tighten the drinking water standards for the chemical.

The state Department of Health Services has issued an extraordinary hazard alert warning workers about unusually high lung cancer risks linked to a form of the metal chromium. Health department officials estimate that about 20,000 welders and other workers are at risk of contracting various types of lung cancer associated with inhalation and ingestion of hexavalent chromium.

The California Environmental Protection Agency has issued the nation's first public health goal for hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing heavy metal made infamous after activist Erin Brockovich sued in 1993 over contaminated groundwater in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. At that time, the average hexavalent chromium level in Hinkley's water was 1.19 parts per billion (ppb). The new state goal was set Wednesday at 0.02 ppb, the level of the element that does not pose a significant health risk in drinking water, according to state officials.

Hexavalent chromium has been found at high levels in tap water in some U.S. cities. The report comes from an environmental advocacy group that urges federal regulators to adopt tougher standards for hexavalent chromium in drinking water. But what's toxic and what's safe remain in question. And now the Environmental Protection Agency promises to study hexavalent chromium and may order cities to start testing their tap water. Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne will discuss the issue during an online chat Wednesday at 10 a.m. PST (noon CST and 1 p.m EST)

Hexavalent chromium. The term sounds high-tech and slightly ominous to those unfamiliar with it -- and apparently few people are familiar with it. Hexavelent chromium is currently piquing online readers' curiosity. The highly publicized specter of potentially toxic water can do that. So here are some basics.... Hexavelent chromium is, quite obviously, a form of the element chromium. The heavy metal is more commonly called chromium 6 and it's used in the production of stainless steel, pigments and protective coatings.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has expressed interest in buying about 100 properties in the town of Hinkley, Calif., that are near a plume of groundwater tainted by cancer-causing hexavalent chromium. The utility, which reached a $333-million settlement with 660 Hinkley residents in 1997 for alleged injuries from chromium-laced water that leaked from its disposal ponds, hand-delivered letters last week expressing interest in purchasing the homes. "Some folks have called us back wanting to know more.

A plume of chromium-tainted groundwater is once again bearing down on residents of Hinkley, Calif., where more than a decade ago an underdog battle with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spawned a multimillion-dollar settlement and the Oscar-winning film "Erin Brockovich. " FOR THE RECORD: Water contamination: An article in the Nov. 15 Section A about groundwater contamination in Hinkley in San Bernardino County referred to the substance involved, hexavalent chromium, as a heavy-metal isotope.

State health officials are examining records and talking with Riverside County officials about testing done at a well next to a Crestmore Heights cement plant where regulators have discovered high levels of a cancer-causing toxin called hexavalent chromium. Area residents have used the well for drinking water for decades, and officials are now investigating where the residents now obtain their water. "We're taking this very seriously," said Ken August, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health.

A type of chromium highlighted in the film "Erin Brockovich" causes cancer in lab animals when they drink it in water, and it could be harmful to people, the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday. Hexavalent chromium, also called chromium 6, already has been shown to cause lung cancer when inhaled. It is controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency as well as by states. Environmentalists have been fighting for decades for tighter limits on chromium in drinking water.

The teachers and administrators of Suva elementary and intermediate schools did not worry too much when health officials told them in January that minute amounts of hexavalent chromium--a carcinogen--were detected in the air around the schools. Then came February, when two teachers miscarried severely deformed fetuses. A third teacher had terminated her pregnancy in September when she found out the fetus she was carrying was deformed.

The air above the TXI Riverside Cement Plant was blinding white Tuesday, blocking out the blue sky. For as long as Mary Alfonso, 79, can remember, dust from the factory has been a feature of life on "the Hill" just above it. When she and her husband moved to the neighborhood near the border of Riverside and San Bernardino counties 52 years ago, they joked about its uniqueness because all the roofs were white. "Then my car turned white -- and it started out green!" said Alfonso.

A cement factory near Riverside is emitting high levels of hexavalent chromium, a toxic carcinogen, from enormous outdoor dust piles blowing downwind across an industrial area and a residential community, the region's top air regulator told The Times on Monday.