Heal the Bay says source of the beach pollution is the Malibu Lagoon. The environmental organization also doubts city’s assessment that pollution from Civic Center is not likely.
By P.G. O’Malley/Special to The Malibu Times
Heal the Bay announced its 14th annual Beach Report Card last week and Malibu’s Surfrider Beach took a downturn from last year’s dry season A grade to receive straight Fs for both dry and wet weather grades.
The annual evaluation of water quality is based on data from 450 shorelines, monitoring locations from Humboldt County to the Mexican border. Heal the Bay described the water quality grades as “crucial to protecting beachgoers from the health risks caused by water pollution.”
Although last year Surfrider Beach received an A during the dry season when the berm that separates the ocean from Malibu Lagoon was closed, this year the world-famous surfing beach received Fs across the board. To add insult to injury, Surfrider was also was once again named to the list of Beach Bummers, the 10 most polluted beaches in the state. Malibu’s showcase beach also took this year’s title as the most polluted beach in Los Angeles County away from Cabrillo Beach, which is located inside Los Angeles harbor.
“The source of the beach pollution is the lagoon,” Heal the Bay’s Hallie Jones said. “When the sandbar is breached, the beach is polluted.” Jones listed leaking sewer pipes, fecal matter from pets and decaying animals and plants as contributors to pollution in the lagoon. But Heal the Bay Director of Science and Policy Shelley Luce also included septic systems in and around Malibu’s Civic Center, despite a released preliminary report from a risk assessment study being undertaken by the city that suggests the Civic Center is not likely a source of pollution in Malibu Creek and Malibu Lagoon.
Luce said she had not yet read the risk assessment report but she had her doubts about what she’d heard so far. “The toilets in the Cross Creek plaza back up in a high tide and this suggests there is a hydraulic connection between the Civic Center and the ocean.” Luce also said that the Las Virgenes Municipal Water Districts’ Tapia wastewater treatment facility in Malibu Canyon is not a source of bacterial contamination in the lagoon.
Luce went on to say the berm that holds pollution in the lagoon was open more days this year than last because of the type of rain that fell. “Long, soft rainfall is perfect for breaching the berm and keeping it open.”
Malibu City Manager Katie Lichtig said the city is taking steps to insure Surfrider is clean regardless of whether the berm is open or closed. “The city acknowledges there have been issues around Heal the Bay’s Surfrider grade,” said Lichtig, who ticked off a number of actions Malibu has in the works to protect beachgoers, including the construction of a storm water treatment plant in the Civic Center. No date has been set to break ground for the plant because the city is waiting for the final construction contract from the state. In addition, the plant will require a permit from the Coastal Commission.
Lichtig also said the risk assessment study being undertaken in conjunction with the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission by Questa Engineering is aimed at determining the relationship between onsite wastewater systems and Malibu Creek and Lagoon. The best part of this study, Lichtig said, is that it will also include an action plan when it’s released later this month.
“We’re working with everybody, including our neighbors upstream,” Lichtig said. “The city wants a good grade whether the berm is open or not.”
Other Malibu beaches monitored in the study include Paradise Cove, which got an dry weather A+ and a wet weather B, Big Rock with and A and B, Westward Beach, A+ and B and Leo Carrillo, which received the same marks as Westward Beach.