Water Utility Backs EPA Asbestos Plan

Officials with a Claremont-based water utility are expressing support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s nationwide moratorium on asbestos by vowing to ban the cancer-causing material from use in pipelines that supply about 60% of the water consumed in the east San Gabriel, Pomona and Walnut valleys.

The Three Valleys Municipal Water District, which provides water for about 500,000 homes and businesses, does not use asbestos cement piping but decided to support the EPA’s ban to set an example for other water distributors, said general manager Richard Hansen

The EPA issued its ban on asbestos use and production in July under a seven-year phase-out plan that also calls for the elimination of asbestos cement pipe in domestic water systems.