Decades ago, chemicals from manufacturing plants seeped into groundwater in the San Fernando Valley, contaminating the aquifer. As part of the ongoing cleanup effort, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has announced that Honeywell International Inc. has agreed to pay to build water treatment facilities in North Hollywood.
The EPA said the facilities will treat groundwater in part of the San Fernando Valley Superfund site, allowing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to use the water as part of its supplies.
The agency said in its message Tuesday that the agreement was reached after more than a decade of negotiations and that it “resulted from a collaborative process” involving the company, EPA and LADWP.
LADWP had previously announced in 2021 that Honeywell financed and built treatment plants to clean groundwater in the San Fernando Valley.
According to the EPA, Honeywell’s predecessor manufactured aircraft parts and other industrial equipment beginning in the 1940s at a North Hollywood facility known as the Bendix site. Regulators determined that operations at several industrial facilities, including that site, caused groundwater contamination in a portion of Superfund website called the North Hollywood Operable Unit.
Groundwater in the area is contaminated with harmful chemicals including trichlorethylene and perchlorethylene.
Under the agreement, contaminated groundwater must be pumped, treated and delivered to LADWP. The treated water will be enough to meet the needs of about 144,000 LA residents, restoring a local source that will help boost local supplies, the EPA said.
Martha Guzman, the EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said the announcement “marks great progress in the cleanup of groundwater in the San Fernando Valley.”
“This is an important step toward restoring the aquifer to use as a drinking water source for the people of Los Angeles,” Guzman said.