Findings reveal that death of fish in Malibu Lagoon was not caused by the spill, but at least one official disagrees.
By P.G. O’Malley /Special to The Malibu Times
The Las Virgenes Metropolitan Water District’s final report on the spill of raw sewage sludge that occurred along Malibu Canyon Road on Oct. 13 indicates that less sludge actually made it into Malibu Creek than was originally indicated.
The district’s Director of Resource Conservation Norm Buehring first estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons of the contaminant had found its way into the creek. Comparing figures for the amount of sludge spilled and the amount recovered during clean-up, however, indicates that approximately 500 gallons of sludge actually contaminated creek water, and that the bulk of the affected creek flow was contained near the Las Virgenes Creek bridge in Malibu Creek State Park. From there, it was vacuumed and routed to a district sewer line.
According to the report, some 24,759 gallons of sludge from the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility in Malibu Canyon spilled near the intersection of Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway, of which 24,262 gallons were recovered.
Much of the spill was contained in an emergency detention basin constructed within an hour after the spill was discovered, and in a dry channel that runs along the creek.
Malibu Creek State Park was closed during the clean up, which was undertaken in consultation with Senior State Park Ecologist Suzanne Goode and monitored on behalf of State Parks. Cindy Wood, a warden for the California Department of Fish and Game, also acknowledged completion of the district’s clean-up efforts, and subsequent district monitoring of the creek downstream of the bridge clean-up area indicated no contamination beyond that point.
The spill of sludge originated in a quarter-size leak in an 8-inch high-pressure pipeline that delivers sludge 4 miles from the Tapia facility to the district’s compost operation near Lost Hills Road. The pipe was installed in 1993 and Buehring indicated the leak was unusual for material that is designed to last for 50 years. The failed section of pipe was immediately removed and sent out for metallurgical testing. Results have not come back yet, but initial speculation centered on corrosion from an undetermined source. The district’s report goes to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, which will review its conclusions and eventually decide, via staff or a vote of board members, what action is appropriate. The district could be in line for a reprimand, or a fine or both.
Although there was originally speculation that the appearance of dead mullet in Malibu Lagoon might be related to the sludge spill, both state and water district officials insist there was no connection between the two incidents. Mervin Hee, regional patrol chief for the California Department of Fish and Game, reports that two biologists and a Fish and Game warden have concluded the dead fish were caused by oxygen depletion.
“When there isn’t a mix of fresh and salt water in the lagoon, this can cause the growth of organic matter in the water,” Hee said. “The anaerobic bacteria consume oxygen that’s needed by the fish. This can be a normal occurrence this time of year.”
But water district Conservation Manager Randall Orton isn’t so sure. Orton reasons that a low oxygen level would not only affect the mullet, which at any rate would seek the surface of the lagoon where oxygen levels are typically higher, and that the die-off could be due to parasitic ostracods, which he describes as “little Packman-like organisms” that enter a fish’s nose or eyes or gills where they bite and feed on blood and flesh. “If there’s enough of them,” Orton said, “they can gang up on a fish and kill it.
“It could be a number of things. It’s very difficult to pinpoint. The mullet are a yearly occurrence in the lagoon where they come to breed, and parasitic ostracods have been found there at least once before, when UCLA did a study in 1993.”