Lockheed Martin has agreed to expand its cleanup efforts of contaminated groundwater in the San Fernando Basin as part of a settlement agreement reached with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin will treat and transfer 1.5 billion gallons of drinking water to the utility, saving ratepayers what officials estimate will be more than $170 million over the next 30 years. The utility says that’s enough water for 56,000 people a year.
“When companies contaminate our water, they ought to be the ones paying to clean it up,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “This historic settlement agreement will help clean millions of gallons of groundwater in the San Fernando Basin, and expand local supplies for years to come.”
For decades dating from the 1920s, Lockheed Martin manufactured and tested aircraft and other industrial equipment in Burbank, contaminating the groundwater there and in the eastern area of North Hollywood.
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