By Kevin Herrera
Daily Press Staff Writer

CRESCENT BAY PARK More than 69 percent of industrial and municipal facilities across California discharged more pollution into our waterways than their Clean Water Act permits allowed in 2005, with the city of Santa Monica and county of Los Angeles being among the worst offenders, a new report shows.

Environment California, a non-profit public interest advocacy group, released the report “Troubled Waters: An Analysis of Clean Water Act Compliance” on Thursday — a week before the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act — in an effort to pressure legislators to pass a new law ensuring that all U.S. waterways are protected.

Over the last six years, the Bush Administration has proposed or enacted numerous policies that weaken the Clean Water Act. These include two separate policies that eliminate Clean Water Act protections for streams and wetlands that feed and clean lakes, rivers and bays. There have also been funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, including cuts to a program that helps cities and private companies improve their operations, said Jeremy Mills, a federal field associate for Environment California.

“As the Clean Water Act turns 35, polluters continue to foul our rivers, lakes and streams,” Mills said. “With so many facilities dumping so much pollution, no one should be surprised that nearly half of America’s waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing, but we should be outraged.”

The goals of the 1972 Clean Water Act are to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into waterways and make all U.S. waterways swimmable and fishable. Over the last three and a half decades, this landmark environmental law has made significant improvements in water quality, but the original goals have yet to be met, Mills said.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Environment California obtained data on facilities’ compliance with the Clean Water Act between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2005.

Researchers found that 57 percent of all major U.S. industrial and municipal facilities discharged more pollution into U.S. waterways than allowed by law at least once during 2005. The average facility exceeded its pollution permit limit by 263 percent, discharging close to four times the legal limit.

Polluters in California reported 194 instances in which they exceeded their Clean Water Act permit by at least 500 percent over the legal limit. California had the most violations in the country, the report said.

Twenty-two facilities in Los Angeles County exceeded their Clean Water Permit at least once during this period.

“Facilities in California and across the country continue to dump more pollution into our waterways than is allowed by law,” Mills said.

Mills noted that the finds are likely just the “tip of the iceberg” since the data that was analyzed includes only major facilities and does not include pollution discharged into waters by the thousands of minor facilities across the country.

The biggest violators in Los Angeles County included the city’s Department of Water and Power, the county sanitation districts, the city of Avalon and AES Corporation, a global power company.

kevinh@smdp.com