The Santa Monica Baykeeper hosts its first in a series of workshops to inform the public of what they can do to help keep California’s waterways clean.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
Last Wednesday, the Santa Monica Baykeeper conducted its first in a series of public workshops titled Clean Water Act: Empower the People. Funded by a “Whale Tail” grant from the California Coastal Commission, the Baykeeper’s series’ of eight seminars is designed to educate local citizens on the principals and challenges of the Clean Water Act and arm an informed populace with practical suggestions to improve and protect local waters.
Originally approved in 1972, the federal Clean Water Act was passed in response to the nationwide degradation of waterways after a series of famously disastrous illustrations of the perils of pollution. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio literally caught fire due to the pollutants that had been dumped in the river by waterfront industries for years. Since then, positively quantifiable reversals have been seen in the quality of the nation’s waters. But there is still much work to be done, according to the California Coastal Commission.
The Baykeeper’s Nov. 15 workshop focused on cleaning up Santa Monica Bay’s “most polluted waters,” a distinction awarded to Malibu’s coastline. Kathleen Jaceko, spokeswoman for the Baykeeper and facilitator for the series, emphasized that the Clean Water Act will only work if “ordinary citizens talk about the important issues that affect the health of our community.”
Jim Thorsen, praised the workshops’ goals and the city for its dedication to the issue of clean water.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said among the projects being actively pursued by Malibu, are the $25 million Legacy Park wastewater treatment plant, the improvements in the Paradise Cove treatment facility, the restoration project for Las Flores Creek and expenditures of more than $1 million to help affected areas with dry weather storm run off.
“The Chamber of Commerce has also been promoting sustainable business practices with recycling, a no smoking policy at our beaches and something as simple as banning Styrofoam products from our restaurants,” he said. “Collectively, these small efforts make a huge difference in the quality of our water.”
Jaceko noted that 96 percent of California’s wetlands are designated as “impaired” by the EPA, including almost 90 percent of Malibu’s bays and waterways.
“Thirty years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, many of our rivers and lakes are still so polluted that they fail to meet standards designed to protect public health.” she said.
The Clean Water Act was a multistep solution designed for local governments to establish water quality standards, prepare assessments every two years on the condition of local waterways (called 303[d] lists), devise restoration plans, arrange for appropriate permits for all human activity related to water and then monitor waters as they shift from sick to healthy.
Jaceko said it is the oversight of ordinary citizens that will make a difference in the future and quoted former President Jimmy Carter: “The Clean Water Act… depends on an informed, involved, committed and courageous citizenry. When people don’t speak up and organize for clean water, it cannot be guaranteed-even by the most progressive state and federal agencies.”
So just what can the ‘ordinary citizen’ do?
Jaceko offered many considerations.
“Storm water runoff is our number one source of pollution,” she said. “Everything that goes on our lawns, our streets and our parking lots ends up running off into our rivers and bays.”
Covering trash cans and emptying cigarette butts into proper waste receptacles is a beginning, she said. Residents can also monitor permitting processes for local development, push for elevation and enforcement of discharge permits and even monitor local waters with the Beachkeeper, a volunteer group affiliated with Baykeeper.
Melina Watts, of the Malibu Creek Watershed Advisory Council, said, “Malibu can make conscious, positive choices to improve our waters that are easy, practical and cost effective.”
But she stressed that a concerted cultural shift must occur to make that difference. She recounted a recent visit to Sweden, where she was struck by how clean the whole city felt.
“Sweden converts its solid human waste to methanol, which powers city energy needs,” she said. “It is a true nexus of urban working with suburban and their lakes are so clean you can drink from them.”
She listed several areas where private citizens and local governments can make a change: wait a day or two after you’ve fertilized your lawn before you water, then stagger the water flow five minutes on and fifteen off. This will save water and prevent runoff. Install native plants around your horse corral, which will collect the nutrient-rich runoff that causes algae in creeks. Take your own travel mug to fill the next time you stop at Starbucks. Wash your car at a car wash, where water is recycled.
“Together,” Watts said, “We can make a difference!”
For more information on the Empower the People workshops series, go to: www.smbaykeeper.org/ep/ep_home.html.