Grumbles visit part of national water meeting
SANTA MONICA PIER — Federal representatives toured a state-of-the-art Santa Monica water treatment facility on Wednesday, saying other communities can learn from City Hall’s seaside attempts to improve its environment.
Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for Water with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, toured Santa Monica’s Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF) on Wednesday, as part of a water regulatory meeting being held locally this year.
Urban runoff — the surface water from yards, driveways and streets that flows through storm drains — is the greatest single source of pollution to the beaches and near-shore waters of the Santa Monica Bay, according to officials.
SMURRF is located at 1601 Appian Way, beneath the pier. It collects contaminants from water before draining into the ocean. Some of the water is also diverted back for landscaping within the city, officials said.
The $10 million project can process up to 500,000 gallons of runoff per day. It was designed by CH2MHill and Boyle Engineering.
During the SMURRF tour, Grumbles said that Santa Monica’s commitment to reuse and conserve its water resources was an inspiration for other communities.
“This state-of-the-art facility sends a strong message to beach lovers and communities across America, that even runoff can be a resource if you get creative and stay committed,” Grumbles said. “SMURRF reduces, recycles and reuses urban runoff to protect coasts and conserve clean water.
“The EPA thinks that should be the clean wave of the future.”
Craig Perkins, City Hall’s director for environmental and public works management, explained how SMURRF works during Wednesday’s tour. Runoff is diverted from the city's two main storm drains into SMURRF and treated to remove pollutants such as trash, sediment, oil, grease and pathogens.
The treatment processes include: coarse and fine screening to remove trash and debris; dissolved air flotation to remove oil and grease; degritting systems to remove sand and grit; micro-filtration to remove turbidity; and ultra-violet radiation to kill pathogens.
Once treated, the water is safe for landscape irrigation and certain recycling plumbing services as prescribed by the state. The treated water meets all of California's requirements for runoff.
Perkins said SMURRF is supplying the water used to flush the toilets and urinals in the public safety facility and in the RAND headquarters building. Within the next few months, it will also be supplying the toilets and urinals in the Watergarden Phase II office building.
SMURRF is also piped for landscape irrigation to various city parks, as well as the Woodlawn Cemetery and the Olympic Boulevard median. Plans are also underway to supply SMURRF water to Caltrans for the freeway landscaping within Santa Monica.
In addition to SMURRF, the Ashland Avenue drain has a sewer diversion system that was just completed for dry weather periods, Perkins said. The Montana Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard and Pier drains should have sewer diversion systems in place for dry weather months by the end of 2007. Most of the funding for the diversion projects is coming from outside grant sources, Perkins said.
City Hall is currently finishing plans for a $95 million watershed project which will take ambitious steps to clean Santa Monica Bay over the next two decades. While city officials are supportive of the undertaking that cleaning the bay entails, there will also be a considerable need for a new funding source for the project, they said.
To secure funding, the City Council authorized city staff in December to explore whether a bond could be raised so the project can move forward. A survey of residents to determine their willingness to pay for the project, along with the plan itself, will be presented to elected leaders in March.
Grumbles’ tour of SMURRF was part of the National Water Division Director’s meeting during which EPA experts from across the nation are planning innovative ways to store and protect water through sustainable infrastructure, wetlands conservation and new technologies, officials said.
Grumbles said he intends to spread the message about SMURRF in the hopes others communities will also find creative ways to use their runoff.
“It gets us excited, because we see it can be done,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.