By Kimiko L. Martinez
Assistant News Editor
Effluent from the affluent.
Experts say it’s one of the sources of contamination that’s spilling onto Malibu beaches and into Santa Monica Bay through Malibu Lagoon.
But city leaders are hoping that recent state funding will help solve the problem.
Up to $2.5 million will go toward the completion of the Malibu Lagoon’s decontamination station and the construction of an additional unit aimed at treating urban runoff and septic system leakage from the Civic Center and Malibu Colony areas.
“The present concept is that there will be one treatment facility to treat the Civic Center and Cross Creek storm drains,” said Malibu’s City Engineer Rick Morgan, referring to an outfall site at the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Cross Creek Road.
A $500,000 matching grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Waste Management Board will fund solid waster removal and the disinfection of storm drains that flow into Malibu Creek and Lagoon.
And a $2 million grant from the Governor’s Clean Beaches Initiative, awarded last year, will go toward the completion of the disinfection efforts.
The city of Malibu has committed to pay the ongoing maintenance and operation costs of the plants, which, according to Morgan, could cost around $50,000 and $75,000 per year.
“As a surfer,” Morgan said at the recent funding ceremony, “I want to share my appreciation for the high priority my state and city has placed upon our problem as surfers – getting sick from playing in our ocean.
“Beyond being a surfer, protecting the health of our ocean, which also needs healthy lagoons, seems to be integral with protecting the soul of our planet,” he added.
At the mouth of Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon is the only salt-water lagoon in the Santa Monica Bay, housing several species of fish and wildlife … and the controversial Tapia Water Reclamation Plant just upstream.
According to the non-profit environmental organization Heal the Bay, the plant is the only major discharger of treated effluent into the Malibu Creek Watershed.
“Although wastewater is cleaner than polluted runoff, it is still high in nutrients which could cause ecological damage in the Malibu Lagoon,” Morgan said.
For years, Malibu residents have pinned pollution on the plant, but Morgan said it’s only during the winter months when the sewage facility is allowed to release treated effluent into the creek.
After pushing through a sandy beach berm, the polluted lagoon water enters the ocean and can spread to local beaches.
Now, much more attention is being focused on contributing community contaminants such as street runoff and septic tanks.
The city is increasing restrictions on these pollutants, requiring higher-quality disinfecting systems for commercial buildings and multi-family residences. Litter will be screened out by the two water-treatment facilities as sanitized runoff pours into the lagoon.
Litter is the primary focus of neighboring Santa Monica city. The Waste Management Board is funding $750,000 to pay for implementations of the Centinela Storm Drain Project – an underground urban runoff system that will prevent trash and debris from being washed into Ballona Creek.
The creek and Malibu Lagoon are the two primary polluters of Santa Monica Bay.
Neal Shapiro, Santa Monica’s urban runoff management coordinator, said the money will fund the first of a two-stage project installing the system into the two main lines under the city.
“The city has a goal of treating all its urban runoff before it goes into the bay of the city of L.A.,” Shapiro said. “Before it leaves our boundaries, we want to say we’ve done our part in treating it.”
According to Shapiro, the first stage should be completed and operational by the next rainy season.
Malibu’s own facilities are expected to be up and running later this year.
“Our most optimistic goal is to break ground (for the new facility) by the end of summer 2002,” Morgan said, but environmental permitting delays may push that date back.
Additionally, the city is still managing difficulties with the first plant after the company that manufactured the $340,000 high-tech filtration system went out of business.
Purchased three years ago, the system uses ultra-violet light and ozone kill bacteria and viruses, much like systems used in the food-packaging industry.
But the city still intends to get things running as soon as it can, with an Illinois-based firm picking up the Malibu Road drain project in hopes of getting the system working properly and putting it to use on Malibu Colony’s residential runoff and seepage.
According to Morgan, the project is currently operational but too noisy to leave running. He hopes the remedy will come soon.
“Society cannot afford to disinfect every storm drain,” Morgan said. “We’ve all got to do our part to eliminate pollutants at the source.”
Assembly member Fran Pavley agrees that community involvement is necessary to protect California’s natural resources.
“Keeping Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Creek clean,” she said, “is good for the health of the bay itself and critical for the residents and tourists who so heavily use this beautiful stretch of beach along the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu.”
January 24, 2002