EPA announces pollution reduction plan for Malibu Creek, Lagoon

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Malibu Creek and Lagoon in 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced a pollution reduction plan for the Malibu Creek and Lagoon in an attempt to improve water quality, according to an EPA press release. 

States are required under the federal Clean Water Act to develop pollution reduction plans for waters fouled by pollutants. These plans are called Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLS), and must be approved by the EPA. 

The draft pollution reduction plan for the Malibu Creek and Lagoon will address “sedimentation and benthic and community impairments,” according to the EPA release. Benthic communities are bottom-dwelling aquatic creatures similar to clams and shellfish, the protection of which provides food for birds and other animal life in the creek and lagoon, according to the EPA.

The Monday announcement relates to a 1999 legal settlement between the EPA and local environmental groups, in which the EPA agreed to approve TMDLS developed by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) or independently establish TMDLS for a list of water bodies in the Los Angeles Region, according to the EPA. 

Monday’s announcement of draft TMDLS was the last required of the EPA under the terms of the 1999 settlement. 

A 40-day public comment period is now open for the draft TMDLS announced Monday. That comment period closes January 22 and 23, 2013. 

For more information or to submit a public comment, go to http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/tmdl/progress.html

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