The Los Angeles water board will vote Nov. 5 on whether to ban septics in the Civic Center area and, in a public meeting, warns residents and businesses of possible consequences.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu residents and businesses located in and around the Civic Center area could soon face fines as high as $10,000 per day if they don’t get rid of their septic systems.
The proposed penalty was announced Tuesday morning by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, at a workshop it hosted at Pepperdine University attended by approximately 100 residents, city staff, environmental activists and other interested parties.
The board’s staff conducted a presentation on its plan to phase out the utilization of septic systems in most of the eastern portion of Malibu, due to its assessment that they are the major cause of pollution in the Malibu watershed.
The RWQCB staff’s plan, which the board will vote on at a meeting in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 5, includes an end to all further permitting of septic systems in 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.
Also, all current septic systems in those areas would have to be phased out within five years. As for what they would be replaced with, the RWQCB has no recommendation. But most likely it would be a sewer system or some sort of wastewater treatment plant.
When asked by a member of the audience what the consequence would be for those who do not comply with the rules by the five-year deadline, RWQCB staff member Wendy Philips declined to comment. But when the question was asked again by another person, she said the RWQCB could issue fines of up to $10,000 per day or $100 per gallon of wastewater discharged.
“I don’t want you leaving the room thinking if you blow the deadline, five years and one day from now you’re going to get penalties from the Regional Board,” Philips said at the meeting. “We take a progressive enforcement approach.”
The RWQCB staff presented various pieces of information and studies that it says prove the Malibu septic systems are the cause of pollution in the watershed. Their findings and proposal were blasted by many in the audience, but applauded by others.
City Manager Jim Thorsen at the meeting said five studies currently being conducted by various groups will prove that storm water treatment is the most important aspect in curbing water pollution. Thorsen said those studies will be finished in six to nine months.
The city has been criticized by the RWQCB and various environmental groups for its current focus on storm water pollution with the Legacy Park project.
Though the city has recently allocated more than $1 million toward the implementation of a wastewater treatment facility, critics say finding solutions to the wastewater pollution have taken a backseat.
“We believe the proposed prohibition should be put on hold until all the information is obtained [from the five studies currently being conducted] and we’re certain it achieves the goals we all share,” Thorsen said. “We’re in dire economic times as a city, as a state, as a country. We want to utilize the funds we all have to the best of our ability. We believe science will be the way to provide us the most reasonable and economic way to address water pollution.”
Former Mayor and current Planning Commissioner Jeff Jennings took a harsher tone, criticizing the RWQCB for using evidence that “was lawyer-driven rather than scientifically driven.” He also said it appeared the staff was unaware of what Malibu is doing to curb water pollution, a situation he blamed on the “confrontational approach” the RWQCB staff and board have taken recently.
Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay, praised the RWQCB’s plan, and at the meeting said it was finally time to do something about the City of Malibu, which “has had more chances than Manny Ramirez.” Gold called what he considers the lack of progress on water quality issues in both Malibu and other nearby cities “stunning.”
“Nobody wants to cast aspersions saying that Malibu hasn’t been doing anything,” Gold said at the meeting. “But the bottom line is: Is Surfrider safe for swimming and surfing? Does anybody in this room think it is? No. Nobody does. So it’s an unacceptable condition that we’ve been dealing with. The same thing for Malibu Lagoon and Malibu Creek.”
Santa Monica Baykeeper, which currently has three lawsuits pending against the city over water quality issues, including a challenge to Legacy Park, had its Executive Director Tom Ford as its spokesperson during the meeting.
“Malibu needs to take a good look in the mirror and realize that five years is a reasonable timeframe for the construction of facilities to take care of these problems so that Malibu can move forward with a legacy that I’m sure everybody would be proud of,” Ford said.
Another public workshop is tentatively scheduled for the evening of Oct. 1. Written comments to the water board on the proposed septic ban must be submitted by Oct. 8. More information can be obtained online at www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb4/.