SM BEACH — For the sixth week in a row, a handful of popular Southern California beaches have broken the law by not meeting federal clean water standards, according to weekly statistics compiled by Santa Monica-based environmental organization Heal the Bay.
Some of those beaches are in Santa Monica’s backyard — just south of the pier, as well as Topanga State Beach and Pacific Palisades.
“Almost one-third of the beaches tested in Santa Monica Bay have exceeded the new beach bacteria standards in violation of the Clean Water Act, demonstrating how widespread this problem is,” said Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay.“We urge the coastal cities responsible and LA County to protect public health by immediately posting warning signs at the beaches, to come forward with plans to clean up these beaches and do everything possible to comply with the law as soon as possible.”
The other beaches that have repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act include the area 100 yards south of the Redondo Pier, Marie Canyon at Puerco Beach in Malibu, the Castlerock storm drain in Pacific Palisades and Dockweiler State Beach at the Ballona Creek mouth.
With the new addition this week of Malibu Point and Playa del Rey opposite the Hyperion Treatment Plant, 21 of the 65 beaches tested in Santa Monica Bay have violated the Clean Water Act since the July 15 deadline to enforce clean water standards at area beaches. A total of four beaches exceeded the standards in the past week.
Heal the Bay has been issuing press releases highlighting the region’s worst beaches ever since the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) decided to postpone a vote to make water quality standards more easily enforceable beginning July 15. The board rescheduled its vote for a Sept. 14 meeting.
However, the board has begun sending letters to LA County and various cities violating pollution standards, asking them to identify the source of the pollution and provide other information within two weeks.
Originally scheduled for the board’s July 13 hearing and removed from the agenda just two days prior, the motion would have required local cities and LA County to comply with new beach water quality standards every day during the summer months. Failure to comply will result in a $1,000 per day fine.
The new standards, called Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), require beach waters and discharges from storm drains to be free from unhealthy levels of fecal bacteria. They would apply to all Santa Monica Bay beaches from the Ventura County line south to Palos Verdes during dry weather between April and October, when tens of millions of residents and visitors use the beach.
The hundreds of thousands of beachgo-ers that visit these shorelines face a potential health risk from exposure to ocean water contaminated by fecal bacteria.
People who swim in contaminated water are far more likely to develop ear infections, sinus ailments, upper respiratory problems or stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. The resulting health care costs were estimated to be $21--$51 million annually in Southern California, according to a recent UCLA study.
Beach water at 65 locations in Los Angeles County is monitored by the LA County Department of Health Services, the city of LA’s Environmental Monitoring Division and the LA County Sanitation District.
Heal the Bay recommends beachgoers check the Beach Report Card at www.healthebay.org before heading into the surf at their favorite beaches.
In 1999, Heal the Bay, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Santa Monica Baykeeper went to court to fight for — and won — water quality pollution limits for in Los Angeles and Ventura County. The beach bacteria limits for Santa Monica Bay were established in 2003.
Even with three years of lead time to the bacteria TMDL’s July 15 compliance deadline, many of Santa Monica Bay’s beaches still have elevated bacteria levels. In order to be easily enforceable, the bacteria pollution limits need to be incorporated into the LA County Storm Water permit by the RWQCB, environmentalists said.
The decision is expected to be made on the morning of Sept. 14 at the Metropolitan Water District in downtown Los Angeles. Last week, Governor Schwarzenegger expressed strong support for the more enforceable water quality standards.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 26, 2006. Read the original PDF.