The early February spill of 140 million gallons of raw sewage into the Tijuana River in Mexico flowed north and exited into the Pacific on the U.S. side of the border. This has polluted the waters of U.S. beach communities in the U.S. city of Imperial Beach south of San Diego.
If such a catastrophic sewage spill occurred in the upper watershed of Malibu Creek, whether by ruptured main lines from a strong earthquake or other system problems, the spill would flow down Malibu Canyon, polluting everything in its path, before emptying out at Malibu Lagoon and despoiling that marine environment. THAT IS UNLESS the decades–long quest by the “tear–down–the– dam” cabal finally quits trying to remove this asset of the taxpayers and the engineering marvel of the SMMNRA.
The “once—again—plans” to tear down the dam for $100—200 million of taxpayer dollars should be rejected by business, civic, fishing, historical, political, surfing and other recreational interests in the lower watershed. A top layer of sediment behind the dam can be removed to provide holding space for a major spill, coupled with a simple lift system of heavy flashboards at the spillway location. These “gates” could be designed to remain open at all times, being closed by remote control if a sewage or other toxic spill is rushing toward Malibu from the upper watershed.
This would be a massive saving from present proposals to remove the dam and spillway, while providing backup to the Las Virgenes Water District and its customers to avoid the tremendous cleanup costs in the lower watershed on such an occurrence
Ronald L. Rindge