Heal the Bay Blog

Heal the Bay president Ruskin Hartley on what it really means to waste water:

On Wednesday I joined Mayor Garcetti, Gov. Brown and members of the President’s Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience at a reception at the Getty House to kick off day-long talks about how the federal government can help communities confront climate change. And today in Fresno, President Obama is unveiling an aid package for communities hit hardest by the drought.

Even as we address immediate needs of drought-stricken communities, we must move beyond short-term aid and invest in a water system for California’s future. And that presents historic opportunities for our work at Heal the Bay. Since 1985, we have been focused on cleaning up pollution in California’s waterways and ocean.  We have had some remarkable successes.  However, many of the state’s rivers and streams still fail to meet clean water standards and much of our groundwater is polluted.

There’s much discussion at the moment about how we “waste” water by dumping it into the ocean. Every time I hear that I cringe. While it is not a waste to let water flow to the ocean (it’s an essential part of the natural system that keeps us alive), it is a waste to dump highly treated water in the ocean that could be reused to off-set dwindling imported supplies.   And we do this every day from countless wastewater treatment plants. One plant alone, Hyperion out by LAX,  flushes 250 million gallons a day of treated wastewater into Santa Monica Bay – equivalent to the water needs of 2 ½ million people. That’s unconscionable waste!

And then there’s stormwater. When it rains, millions of gallons of rain flush through the urban watershed via engineered culverts and channels, picking up pollutants in a rush to the ocean. In a naturally functioning system, much of this would infiltrate into the ground and replenish our aquifers.  Instead we are left with polluted beaches and depleted aquifers. Crazy! 

We cannot make it rain. But we can make much better use of the precious water we have. Today, Heal the Bay is advocating for solutions and investments that make better use of our local water resources: groundwater clean-up, stormwater capture and recharge, and increased recycling. Taken as a package, they will go a long way to cleaning up our rivers, streams, and ocean. And that will make for a healthier bay. I’ll drink to that!

Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s director of water quality, recently took a trip to China to discuss environmental issues with policymakers in the world’s most populous nation. Here she shares her reflections.

I’m back from China, and breathing a lot easier. I had a fabulous time, but the air pollution is brutal! Last month, the Beijing government invited me to speak to its Water Authority about water issues and regulation in California and share lessons to help inform the development of Beijing’s Water Action Plan.  My trip was a great learning experience, providing an up-close view of Chinese culture and how the nation goes about tackling environmental issues.

Addressing water supply and water quality is no small task for Beijing managers, given that they serve a population of more than 21 million residents. Officials I spoke with repeatedly pointed to population growth as their greatest environmental challenge.  As I described our work to benefit the city of Los Angeles and its 4 million residents, they nodded but said we are on a totally different playing field.  Nonetheless, they seemed keen to investigate how practices used to manage water in California could be introduced to Beijing, such as Total Maximum Daily Loads, other pollution limits and low impact development requirements.

In some respects, Beijing could be considered a step ahead of us in conservation. The city has had success implementing the use of grey water, water metering and price-tiering. Yet those programs might be attributed to an overly strong government hand and more lax public health regulations, which may not be a good thing.

My Chinese colleagues got a good chuckle when I mentioned that people in the greater L.A. region use 187 gallons of water per day on average.  One participant noted that he keeps a bucket of grey water from his sink/laundry to flush his toilet.  Beijing  has significant water recycling initiatives and is seriously exploring indirect potable reuse, so-called “toilet to tap” technologies. Beijing has definitely taken notice of Orange County’s cutting-edge efforts to cleanse wastewater and turn it into drinking water.

My biggest takeaway was seeing how the Chinese government has such a strong role in both hindering and encouraging environmental progress.  For example, if the government owns much of the industry and business, are officials going to make themselves the “responsible party” for cleaning up a groundwater contamination issue or an industrial spill?  However, if the government determines that a new subway line needs to go in within the year and that people shouldn’t drive a certain day of the week to help reduce air pollution, this can be done overnight (no CEQA in China)!

Local municipalities, residents, businesses and public policy advocates in Southern California struggle with the number of agencies dealing with water management. It can be hard to gain consensus and move forward when there are so many silos (e.g., the DWP, MWD and L.A. County Public Works).  Beijing had a similar problem, with 70 different agencies working on water issues.  So in 2004, the government decided the competing unit would all unify into one agency. Voila!

I learned a lot in Beijing to broaden my perspective on water management and hopefully I provided some tools that can help officials there develop and implement a robust water plan.  However, it’s good to be home, drinking clean water from the tap and enjoying a clear blue sky.    

Marina del Rey Harbor is the most toxic metropolitan marina in the state. Here, staff scientist Peter Shellenbarger discusses how refinishing boat hulls can reverse the decline.

Update: After a heated discussion that lasted over four hours, the Regional Water Board unanimously approved the amendments to the Marina del Rey Toxics TMDL at its Feb. 6 meeting that will require boat owners to remove copper-based paints from the hulls of their boats (see below for details). Although many boaters expressed concerns over the potential costs of repainting, Regional Board staff reiterated their intent to help secure some grant support. USEPA and others also discussed studies and research by the Department of Toxics Substance Control and others that identified cost-effective, non-toxic paint alternatives. Heal the Bay looks forward to working with the Regional Water Board, the County and the public to help find a sensible path forward for TMDL implementation.

Marina del Rey attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year with its breathtaking views and coastal amenities. Its harbor, the centerpiece of the community, is the largest man-made marina in the United States, with mooring space for more than 6,000 small vessels. It also serves as home to many coastal service industries, such as sport fishing, whale watching, and boat racing.

Before the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers created the Harbor in the 1950s, a vast salt marsh covered the area, providing habitat for many aquatic and terrestrial species. Despite the massive transformation of the area over the past 60 years, it remains home to many species that once occupied the wetland, such as sea lions, pelicans, and gulls.

Despite all this animal and human activity, there’s a reason to be concerned about the health of the Marina. Most visitors don’t know that in 2009 Cal EPA found the Harbor to be the most toxic metropolitan marina in the state. Bottom line: Many aquatic species can’t survive in these polluted waters, which also pose a health hazard to humans who regularly come in contact with the water.

Marina del Rey is now on the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies for a variety of pollutants (chlordane, copper, lead, zinc, PCBs, DDT, dieldrin and sediment toxicity). Accordingly, many beneficial uses of the Harbor, such as water contact recreation, fishing and marine habitat, are negatively impacted.

In response, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board established pollution limits in 2005 for the water body to help clean up the Harbor and protect the many uses of its waters. At its Feb. 6 hearing, the Regional Board will reconsider the pollution limits – also known as a TMDL – in order to incorporate the latest science.

The most controversial element of the proposed revision is a requirement for an 85% reduction in copper loading from boats into the water column. Unfortunately, many of the boats in the harbor have their hulls coated in paints that contain high levels of the metal. The copper is effective in keeping barnacles and other unwanted creatures off hulls, but it also can leach into surrounding waters and be a major contributor to overall toxicity.

The new rules would dictate that 85% of the boats now moored in the Harbor would need to refinish their hulls with an alternative product by March 2024. The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board recently adopted a similar requirement to reduce dissolved copper in the water column in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin Copper TMDL.

Understandably, the cost of refinishing hulls is a big concern for boat owners. However, studies indicate that the difference in total lifetime costs for using copper-based hull coatings versus alternative hull coatings is fairly small when routine maintenance schedules are followed. On the positive side, non-copper-based hull coating outlast copper-based products.

To help offset the high upfront costs of switching to non-copper based hull coatings, the Regional Board is exploring grant options for boat owners. The San Diego water board has pursued a similar path to help boat owners.

Marina del Rey is an iconic location in Los Angeles. In order to ensure future generations can fully enjoy this important coastal resource, it is critical that water quality is protected. Heal the Bay’s policy team has determined that updating the Marina del Rey Harbor Toxic Pollutants TMDL to address the copper issue will help protect this resource and the marine life that depends on it.

For more information on copper leaching from boat hulls, you can visit:

http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/safe-paint/index.html

http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/safe-paint/san-diego.html

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb4/Boater_Fact_Sheet_updated.pdf