I’d like to take the opportunity provide a few facts regarding the city’s Legacy Park Project.
The park, intended as a resource for both residents and visitors, will retain public open space, promote water conservation and greatly improve water quality at Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach. It will allow us to store and treat stormwater runoff generated from within the 300-acre Civic Center area. Rainwater will be treated by the city’s newly constructed stormwater treatment facility and a portion of the water will be reused for irrigation within the area.
In addition to cleaning stormwater, the city is proposing to design and construct an offsite wastewater treatment facility that would allow for the highest level of treatment. The treated wastewater effluent will be used to irrigate trees and vegetation in the park and other commercial and public sites in the Civic Center area, very similar to what is done in residential and commercial areas throughout Southern California, including Pepperdine University.
Legacy Park will not have any “sewage ponds” nor will sewage be treated on the Legacy Park site. The term “first flush” does not refer to wastewater, but is in fact the name given to the first rainfall after a dry period. This runoff, considered to be the most contaminated, will be “scrubbed” clean to remove pollutants and bacteria before entering the ocean. There should be no odor, scum or algae build-up with the reuse of this clean water.
We have hired a team of scientists, engineers and landscape architects to work with local environmentalists and residents to ensure that water quality objectives are met. We fully encourage and look forward to hearing comments from the public at the public hearings to be held.
Jim Thorsen
City Manager