Your editorial from July 3, “Summertime…,” raises questions about the allocation of costs to comply with sewage and water quality wishes of the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) as imposed on the City of Malibu. Specifically, “Is there a regional problem, like sewage and runoff, coming down from the watershed and flowing to the ocean that we (City of Malibu) are being asked to solve?”
The 110-square mile upper watershed produces tainted water runoff (rain, landscape chemicals, road residues and occasional major sewage spills).
It seems to me that 100% of the cost of preventing or substantially mitigating this tainted water or chemicals from flowing down Malibu Canyon to Surfrider Beach should be borne by all stakeholders in the upper watershed—public and private. All parties who contribute to this tainted runoff should bear the cost of correcting the problem, not the City of Malibu nor its businesses or residents.
The Rindge Dam can be used as a giant catch basin to trap this “bad runoff” from ever getting into Malibu Canyon or to the ocean at Surfrider Beach. This use will be possible only if the Rindge Dam is not first destroyed by the decades-long quest of fish interests to tear down the dam to let steelhead trout try to swim up to the tainted waters of the upper watershed. Too bad the millions of dollars already spent on this foolish quest are now lost due to special interest folly.
The Rindge Dam is a vital asset of taxpayers. Alternate uses beyond serving as a catch basin exist, but this one could be effected without imperiling the stability of Malibu Canyon Road.
Ronald L. Rindge