Potentially toxic lithium-ion batteries pried from burned-out electric vehicles in the Eaton fire and transported to a temporary hazardous waste collection site in Azusa for processing has raised concerns about toxic metals leaching into nearby sources of drinking water. The Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster, an agency responsible for the safety of groundwater supplies for nearly 2 million Los Angeles County residents, sounded an alarm recently over the crushing of these batteries on a dirt bank of the San Gabriel River at Lario Park. … The Watermaster has requested the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in charge of the Lario hazardous waste staging site, relocate the battery-crushing activity from the Lario site or simply move the crushing activity farther from the river bank to a paved parking lot area.

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• Motopaddock (Amsterdam): Blog: Can lithium-ion batteries poison L.A.’s water supply? A river’s cry for help