Some of the groundwater is already contaminated. Once contaminated, the ground water may be expensive if not impossible to detoxify. The Story of a Neighborhood Toxic Waste Site. By 1993 about 50 sites had been cleaned up. 13 Los Angeles County operates a household toxic waste dropoff program for used motor oil, radiator fluid, batteries, paints, solvents, etc.
Some gas stations collect used motor oil.
12 Many of these chemicals are illegaly poured down storm drains and become the single largest source of pollution in the Santa Monica and San Pedro bays. This problem is called nonpoint source pollution since it does not come from any single source such as a factory or power plant. There are several suggestions you can follow to keep trash, and garden and automotive chemicals out of storm drains. Used motor oil alone accounts for a massive waste disposal problem. For example, Americans use about one billion gallons of motor oil each year, and 350 million gallons of that end up in the environment.