Rialto and San Bernardino County's legal battles over contamination hundreds of feet underground appear to be over.

The Board of Supervisors voted in closed session Tuesday to approve the terms of the settlement with Rialto over chemicals, primarily perchlorate, contaminating the local water supply, said county spokesman David Wert. County lawyers will now write a final draft.

The Rialto City Council approved the settlement on Feb. 19.

Under the terms of the settlement, the county would pay Rialto $4 million and clean up the western portion of the contamination.

"There's no disagreement on any of the terms," Wert said.

All that is needed is for the settlement document to be finalized. Then Rialto Mayor Grace Vargas and Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane can sign it.

"That could happen by the end of the week," Wert said.

The contamination the county would be responsible for cleaning is flowing from county-owned land adjacent to the Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill.

Rialto sued the county as part of a 2004 federal lawsuit against more than 40 parties Rialto claims is responsible for the contamination.

The city sued the county again in 2006 at the height of bickering between the two sides.

Perchlorate is flowing from not only the county's land but also other industrial land on Rialto's north end. It is cleaned out of the water before it is served to residents. In addition to the contamination

the county will clean up, a longer plume is flowing to the east. Rialto, state and federal agencies are struggling to get corporations suspected of contaminating that area to clean it up.

In order to lobby federal officials for money and to put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency to move forward in its efforts to get some of those parties to clean up the contamination, officials from a number of local water agencies went to Washington, D.C., last week.

It was the first trip to the nation's capital for the officials - from the county, Rialto, the West Valley Water District, Colton and Fontana Union Water Co. - since the parties began working to form a joint-powers authority to lobby for federal money with a united front.

State Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Montclair, and staff from the office of Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, also attended.

"One of our requests back there was that the EPA immediately get involved and issue water orders against the responsible parities," Scott said.

The group met with Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, as well as committee staff from Sen. Barbara Boxer's and Sen. Dianne Feinstein's offices, said Anthony "Butch" Araiza, general manager of the West Valley Water District.

The group also met with other local members of Congress or their staff, and staff from the Department of Defense's research division.

The group also asked for $10 million in cleanup money, Araiza said.