Government agencies work to draft plans to meet strict new federal and state limits on storm runoff, treated sewage and septic discharges.
By Hans Laetz/Special to The Malibu Times
City or county regulation of existing single-residence septic tanks is a good possibility as officials look at complying with strict new federal and state water pollution control regulations in Malibu and all along the Santa Monica Bay’s creeks and washes.
That was the message delivered at a Tuesday pollution conference that took place just after the California Supreme Court ruled that the cities of Los Angeles and Burbank must complete expensive sewage treatment projects-no matter what the financial burden on ratepayers-in order to meet strict new water pollution standards.
Officials from a dozen government agencies with varying jurisdiction along the northern Santa Monica Bay coast are drafting plans to meet strict new limits on storm runoff, treated sewage and septic tank discharges. Within five months, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board will decide on a drastic reduction in the allowable levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other pollution-causing substances.
The laws affect both discharges of treated sewage into Malibu Creek and the semi-treated sewage liquids seeping out of thousands of septic tanks under nearly all of Malibu’s single-family homes. Once they are constructed, septic systems are unregulated unless they fail-the new regulations may mean that existing and new septic systems would need permits and annual inspections.
One government agency warns that the pending rules are so tight, it will be illegal to pour a glass of tap water into Malibu Creek.
“The laws are here. We have to meet them. The question is how are we going to comply with them without selling our constituents down the drain,” said Susan Nissman, senior deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
Although wastewater that seeps from septic pits into the soil is recognized as being an effective disinfectant under most topographies, it contains nitrogen and phosphorous at levels unacceptable under the new regulations being written to conform with federal and state clean water acts.
The county and the water board staged a rare public dispute at Tuesday’s meeting of the North Santa Monica Bay Watershed Task Force. Speaking for the county, Nissman firmly rejected the water quality board spokeswoman’s assertion that local governments must regulate individual septic systems.
“This is a bone of contention, that the water board holds us accountable for ensuring that those [private septic] systems are indeed functioning the way they are supposed to,” said Dan Lafferty, a wastewater expert with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
A Regional Water Quality Control Board spokeswoman was no less emphatic at giving local governments the responsibility to make sure septic systems are running well, long after they are built. “We have waived issuing permits for individual systems, and as a result we sincerely hope the county will uphold the regulation of individual systems,” said Melinda Becker, acting chief of regional program services for the RWQCB.
Nissman fired back, “That will be up to our attorneys to argue in court.”
As tough as the new standards may be, they may not be tough enough. Officials have only recently learned the implications of the creation by then-Gov. Gray Davis of a marine sanctuary off the Malibu coast, from Latigo Point westward to Point Mugu. That area, including more than half of Malibu’s residents, may get even tougher pollution discharge rules than the septic tank regulations possible under the current discussions.
“Those regulations have been there, dormant, for 30 years. Only last year did they become a bigger item in the overall picture,” said Lafferty.
“This is a monster issue,” he warned. “Some of the prohibitions are quite extreme and we’re not sure those expenditures of efforts and money are going to be worth it.”
But given three recent California Supreme Court rulings, that argument is in vain, an observer said.
The costs of complying with and enforcing any new regulations and who would bear them was not discussed at the meeting.
Nissman went out of her way to single out Malibu as being ahead of the curve on septic tank issues. The city has had a working group making recommendations to the city for several years, which have been incorporated in building codes and other city regulations. “They’re setting an example for the other 2,200 septic homes in the Malibu Creek watershed,” she said.