The state law that would require regular inspections and upgrades to failing septic systems is under revision to address unique regional needs.
By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer
After recently issuing notices of wastewater discharge permit violations to more than 30 Malibu businesses and public facilities in the Civic Center area, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board took park in the Malibu Water Quality Symposium last Thursday to discuss the latest in septic system regulations and water quality technology in Southern California.
Facilitated by City Councilmember John Sibert and held at Pepperdine University, the symposium also featured several scientific experts who explained how the latest regulations and technologies would affect Malibu, a city chronically cited and sued for polluted waterways.
“In general, beaches in Malibu are more contaminated than sewered beaches,” Rebecca Chou, chief of the Los Angeles water board’s groundwater permitting unit, told the audience. “We need a long-term solution to clean up contamination in the Civic Center.
“The Malibu Lagoon and beaches are not yet safe for human contact and marine life,” Chou continued. “Businesses [in the Civic Center] already generate more wastewater than can be percolated. We may evaluate the rest of Malibu in the future, including over 300 residential septic systems.”
Sibert clarified that the City of Malibu is not responsible for ensuring that local businesses comply with wastewater discharge requirements because the businesses obtained the discharge permits from the water board.
“This is not a place to point fingers, this is a place to figure out what do we do and how do we do it,” Sibert said.
The effectiveness of septic systems in Malibu has been long disputed. Several environmental groups have filed an onslaught of lawsuits accusing the city of water pollution and urging the implementation of a centralized wastewater treatment facility. However, some residents say septic systems, which are utilized by approximately 80 percent of Malibu, are not the cause of pollution in local waterways.
Dick Otis, president-elect of the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association, said upgraded septic systems could be used in concert with conventional sewerage to achieve optimum wastewater treatment.
Sewers are believed to be superior because they are professionally managed, publicly financed and are perceived to achieve “adequate” environmental protection, Otis said. But this isn’t always the case.
“Twenty percent of all the energy expended in California is spent on moving water from one place to another,” Otis said. “We think bigger sewerages are better because they’re easier to control, but small scale [wastewater treatments] are less stressful to their receiving environment and there are less strict treatment requirements needed.”
Otis advised against a one-size-fits-all approach to wastewater regulation and said the decision of whether to use septic or sewer to comply with wastewater discharge requirements should be based on individual watersheds because each one is “significantly” different.
AB 885 under revision
For this reason the regional water board has decided to direct its staff to revise Assembly Bill 885, a law that would have employed uniform septic regulations throughout the State of California by July 2010, regardless of the different topographies of its many regions. Jonathan Bishop of the State Water Resources Control Board said he expects to see progress of the revised bill during the summer.
The majority of Malibu residents were most concerned about the affordability of adhering to the bill, which would require a possible $35,000 to $45,000 for septic system upgrades and a mandatory $325 or higher for septic tests every five years. Those with domestic wells on their properties would also have to pay $325 for inspections.
“California doesn’t have any regulations against septics,” Bishop said. “We’ve changed our general approach from everything being the same across the state to looking at local conditions and having local health officers play bigger role in the process.”
Ocean water at Surfrider Beach examined
Local conditions include the results of an epidemiology study that is currently being conducted at Surfrider Beach by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project to assess the risk of swimming-related illnesses.
This study, which has also been conducted at Doheny Beach in Dana Point and at Avalon Bay Beach on Santa Catalina Island, consists of recruiting swimmers at Surfrider and interviewing them 10 to 14 days later to compare swimmer illness rates with water quality measurements.
Last year, environmental group Heal the Bay ranked Surfrider Beach the fourth most contaminated beach in California. A study released in July by UCLA and Stanford University researchers states that bacteria pollution at many Southern California beaches causes illnesses in up to 1.5 million swimmers every year, as well as “tens of millions of dollars” in healthcare and other related costs.
The need to curb pollution was also voiced by a group of fifth graders from the Environmental Science Commission of Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School who showcased the many ways they are working to improve the environment.
Among the school’s “green” measures are the creation of a compost site for leftover cafeteria food; the installation of 33 solar panels on the school’s roof; and the replacement of plastic foam cafeteria trays with those made from biodegradable corn starch and cardboard.
“We really have to think about our trash and where it goes,” fifth grade commissioner Bodhi Schulz told the audience. “As a kid, it’s important for me to know my friends and I will have a safe environment when we’re grown up.”