City officials say a centralized system will be too costly.
By P.G. O’Malley/Special to The Malibu Times
When Dennis Dickerson, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board, advised members of the Malibu Business Roundtable two weeks ago to expect more stringent wastewater discharge standards, he also suggested Civic Center property owners consider a centralized water treatment facility as a hedge against the expense of upgrading existing septic systems to meet new nutrient discharge standards recently adopted by the EPA.
But while Dickerson and board Chair Sharon Cloke both insisted their interest was in giving Malibu property owners a heads up on what’s ahead, so far the city hasn’t taken kindly to the suggestion.
“The reason we took this particular opportunity to speak,” Dickerson said, “is that right now there is grant money available to investigate and build centralized treatment facilities that include innovative features like wetlands and parks for disposing of wastewater effluent.”
Cloke agreed. “Proposition 40 and 50 both provide construction funds, and we thought Malibu might want to apply. The idea is to develop more effective and cost effective systems that will meet the new EPA requirements as well as the requirements of the city’s strict plumbing ordinance.”
Although there are four centralized sewage treatment facilities in Malibu, including one at Malibu West and one that serves condominiums in the Civic Center, the bulk of Malibu’s waste-both single-family, commercial and multifamily-is handled through individual septic systems, many of which will have to be upgraded as the new discharge standards come on line. This doesn’t bother Mayor Ken Kearsley, a strong supporter of septic systems and the council’s expert on wastewater disposal.
“There’s no evidence a centralized system will be any less expensive than upgrading individual systems,” Kearsley said. “The board wants us to build a regional system in the Civic Center that will have an ocean outfall. But we don’t know what the costs of the outfall alone will be. You’ll have to refrigerate the water and resalinize it so it won’t affect the kelp beds or the fish.”
But both Cloke and Dickerson maintain their interest isn’t in how Malibu treats its sewage, only that the effluent it discharges meets tough new state and EPA water quality standards.
“At a minimum, it’s going be an additional burden for both residents and commercial property owners to meet the city standards,” Cloke said. “Then you add on the new EPA requirements. Our goal is to work together with Malibu to develop solutions that are more efficient, environmentally sound and not as costly to residents.”
Asked how current septic systems could be upgraded, Kearsley described add-ons including ionization that will changed effluent that currently is discharged directly into leachfields to potable quality, as well as new technology that uses sand as a filter. Kearsley’s goal is a zero discharge system that uses evapo-transpiration off lawns and trees to dispose of septic system effluent.
“Let the Southern California sun do the work,” Kearsley said. “The water quality board has no jurisdiction, if you don’t put anything in the ground.”
Meanwhile, Malibu Environmental and Community Development Director Vic Peterson complained that Dickerson hadn’t provided any numbers to prove that a centralized system would be more cost effective.
“The city’s entire wastewater plan is a risk-based policy,” Peterson said. “We don’t want overkill.”
But Cloke suggested it might be overkill to require individual residents to upgrade their systems.
“It would be much better to issue one permit to the city,” Cloke said, “instead of having to process permits for each individual system.”
Asked if the city had any figures for what it would cost to upgrade individual systems as opposed to building a centralized treatment plant, Peterson said, “If they’re going to have to upgrade, it’s going to cost.”
But City Manager Katie Lichtig suggested any discussion about costs and the effect on commercial development is premature. She is awaiting the results of an ongoing groundwater monitoring study, scheduled for release sometime next year a year, from now.
The $800,000 study, one of a long line of investigations into Civic Center wastewater issues, is using some 20 wells in the Civic Center area to monitor seasonal groundwater ebbs and flows.