Group wants L.A. cities to treat their run-off water
A Sacramento bill may empower work being done by a local group trying to clean-up the Santa Monica Bay.
A bill being sponsored by State Senator Sheila James Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that would allow the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project to become a state commission — giving the group a budget and allowing it to legally receive and give grant money — sailed through the senate this week.
In essence, the group would be able to help coordinate funds for projects to collect and treat run-off water throughout the Los Angeles region before it makes its way into the rivers and streams that empty into the Santa Monica Bay.
“The Santa Monica Bay is the most beautiful in California, but one of the most polluted,” said Kuehl in a prepared statement. “It can be clean again, and, since it is key to our tourist and fishing industry and an important recreational spot for the people who live there, we must do what we can to make that happen.”
The bill will now head to the state Assembly where it is expected to pass with little trouble, mainly because the bill does not have any financial implications on the already cash-strapped state budget.
If enacted, the commission will coordi-nate the work of federal, state and local agencies involved with the restoration of the bay and follow an action plan developed by California’s top marine scientists.
The Santa Monica Bay extends from the Ventura County line to Point Fermin, south of Palos Verdes Point. Its 50 miles of coastline — including 22 separate public beaches — offer recreation to at least 45 million people each year, including more than 500,000 visitors a day at the height of summer.
The bay, which is home to over 5000 species of birds, fish, mammals, plants and other wildlife, including threatened and endangered species, and which provides a necessary habitat for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds, was identified as a Superfund cleanup site in the late- 1980’s, because it has been fouled with toxic pollution caused by urban runoff, oil spills and industrial discharges.
Santa Monica is one of the first cities in the Los Angeles region to build a waste water treatment facility to collect run-off water before it can contaminate the ocean. The city is also experimenting with building materials that would absorb water before it is released back into the environment.
“We are generally doing cutting edge stuff,” said Mayor Mike Feinstein. “We are generally already doing the right thing and I think formalizing the restoration project is only going to help share our experiences with all the agencies that affect the health of the bay and improve our collective performance as a result.”
Since 1988, the bay restoration group has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to plan and oversee the restoration of Santa Monica Bay.
Among the bay group’s accomplishments are the development of the first municipal storm water permit for control of urban runoff in L.A. County; the restoration of the Zuma Creek Wetland; and the creation of the Public Involvement and Education (PIE) Fund, a program which provides funding for schools, inner-city youth, environmental groups and municipalities to learn about and help to preserve the bay and to prevent pollution.
The group also directs the preeminent research and analysis of the scope, nature and possible solutions of the pollution in the Santa Monica Bay.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 1, 2002. Read the original PDF.