One scientist says city is telling the truth. The Regional Water Quality Control Board is set to vote Nov. 5 on a proposed septic ban for Malibu.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
A Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board official last week accused the city of distorting the preliminary findings of studies being conducted on Malibu water pollution. But at least one scientist says city officials are telling the truth, and accused the RWQCB official of interpreting the findings in a way so she can reach the conclusion she wants.
Elizabeth Erickson made the accusation against the city during a workshop at Pepperdine University on the RWQCB’s proposal to ban septic systems in most of eastern Malibu. While RWQCB official say septic systems are to blame for most of the watershed pollution, city officials have cited five studies currently being conducted that have reached a different conclusion in their preliminary findings.
“That’s a distortion as far as I can tell,” Erickson said at the workshop. “It’s not what the researchers are telling me.”
But Dr. Richard Ambrose of UCLA, who is taking part in one of the studies, says otherwise. Ambrose told The Malibu Times in an interview this week that samples taken from the Malibu Lagoon while the lagoon is open during the dry season, when there is no storm water runoff, show no sign of human fecal matter.
“To me that means the human contamination can’t be very much or else we would have found it,” Ambrose said.
The UCLA professor, who holds a doctorate in marine ecology, said he has communicated with Erickson about the study’s preliminary findings.
“I tried to work with her on the interpretation [of the study],” Ambrose said. “I guess it depends on what perspective you want to take. I can’t say there’s none [human fecal matter], but it’s not a lot. Maybe she’s choosing to interpret the ‘I can’t say it’s none’ part, and the city is choosing the ‘I say it’s not a lot’ part.”
Erickson did not return calls for comment.
As part of the UCLA study, lagoon samples were also taken during a heavy rainstorm, and those turned out to contain human matter. Another group of samples was taken during the dry season when the lagoon is closed. The results of those findings are pending.
Ambrose stressed that “often things are not black and white, and definitive” when it comes to these tests. He said his study would be even better if more samples were taken, and then there is the possibly that human matter could be found during the dry season. But he added, “I’m confident that it can’t be very extensive” because some evidence would have been found with the earlier samples.
The RWQCB is set to vote on the proposed septic ban at a Nov. 5 hearing in downtown Los Angeles. City officials have repeatedly asked that the vote be delayed until the five current studies are finalized. Those requests have been rejected.
“We’re willing to look,” said Erickson at the workshop when asked by a member of the public about whether the final results of the studies could persuade her to change her opinion on the ban. “But in terms of stopping [the process] because we think they’re going to find something that hasn’t been found before, there’s just such a vast array of science that’s already been completed that we don’t think that’s going to happen.”
The proposed ban covers commercial sections of the city such as the Civic Center area and the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway from Serra Road to Sweetwater Canyon, as well as the residential areas of Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Serra Retreat, Sweetwater Mesa and the Malibu Knolls. RWQCB staff has not said what should replace the septic systems, but most likely it would have to be a sewer system or some sort of wastewater treatment plant. So-called zero-discharge septic systems would be exempt from the ban.
Ambrose said he will not be able to attend the Nov. 5 hearing because he will be out of town. But the city plans to bring scientists from the other studies to the hearing to discuss their preliminary findings, including John Izbicki of the U.S. Geological Survey. Izbicki could not be reached for comment for this story.
A copy of the proposal and studies associated with it can be found at www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb4/. Written comments to the water board on the proposed septic ban must be submitted by this week on Thursday.