Our thanks to The Malibu Times for raising awareness of the dilemma facing our district: where to direct excess recycled water from our Tapia Water Reclamation Facility. Tapia’s advanced, highly environmental process creates useful irrigation water out of wastewater from 85,000 watershed residents. As a result, good use is made of a very valuable resource, water, which reduces the need for imported supplies.
We want to clarify and correct some statements in your article. Water from Tapia is not “dirty.” Extensive treatment makes it effectively bacteria free and the cleanest water entering Malibu Creek. Tapia does not “overflow” into the creek. The plant provides a steady and controlled outflow for the five months each year when it can and does, as needed, discharge to the creek.
Tapia does not create the continuing failing grades for pollution at Surfrider Beach. To the contrary, we see the very same trend of “F” ratings and closures continue today, despite Tapia contributing no water for seven months (mid April through mid-November) for the last seven years.
In a 1999 process to explore alternatives to discharging surplus recycled water into Malibu Creek, local stakeholders surfaced dozens of ideas, including seasonal use of the aquifer in the upper Las Virgenes Valley. As you mention, this idea has not been pursued, but others have been. Primary among these are several extensions to our recycled water system, achieving the most miles per capita of recycled water lines in California, if not the nation.
As we await the outcomes of upcoming regulations and Tapia’s permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, we appreciate the opportunity to comment. Our goal is to work in partnership with cities and responsible organizations throughout the watershed to effect improvements in Malibu Creek. All of us can make progress toward finding solutions that will prove effective.
John R. Mundy
General Manager, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District