Malibu city officials spoke out against new water quality permit requirements for Los Angeles County at meetings Thursday and Friday of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. The requirements were proposed in June 2012 and have yet to be approved, but Malibu and 61 other affected municipalities across the county have complained that the proposed requirements are overly onerous and arbitrary. The water board is expected to adopt the revised permit regulations in November.
Malibu Mayor Lou La Monte said the requirements would be impossible for the city to meet and would make the city liable to litigation from outside groups, despite the good faith he said the City of Malibu has shown by spending tens of millions of dollars on water quality projects in the last several years.
“The permit must say that if a city is complying in good faith, implementing best management practices and identifying additional measures to resolve any issues; then the city is in compliance,” La Monte said. “Some [pollution is] out of the city’s control and doesn’t even come from stormwater. So, the city shouldn’t be vulnerable to lawsuits while it assesses a problem and identifies the source and solution.”
La Monte urged the water board not to rush into adopting the new 500-page permit, and to map out a clear path for municipalities to obtain “natural source exclusions.” Natural source exclusions give some municipalities a break from the standards, if it is found that pollution in water bodies flowing through its jurisdiction is derived from outside the municipality.
City Manager Jim Thorsen also made a power point presentation to the Board on Thursday and returned to the hearings again on Friday, La Monte said. Thorsen talked up the $70 million Malibu spent on clean water projects and permit compliance over the past decade. He then compared the original RWQCB estimate of $1.52 per year, per household to achieve dry weather bacteria compliance to Malibu’s actual cost. Thorsen said that added up to over $1,500/year per household, paying for [what the city believes to be] a regional problem.
Thorsen requested the regulations be amended to change language, recognize natural sources of pollution and exclude them from measurement, recognize good faith efforts and processes for compliance by the city, and more help and cooperation in meeting clean water goals.
Several Malibu residents that attended the Board meeting hoping to make public comments as individuals were told there wasn’t enough time available for them to speak on Thursday.