Heal the Bay Blog

Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s science and policy director for water quality, writes that there are a number of reasons to celebrate a recent win in the fight against toxic local waterbodies.

At the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing last week (May 8), something big happened.  An important decision didn’t draw large crowds (only a few high paid attorneys) or make headline news, but it marked an uplifting win for local water quality standards, something that Heal the Bay has been waiting for since 2003.  Let’s start at the beginning.

The Los Angeles Basin Plan – the document that helps guide our region’s water quality protection – requires that surface waters be maintained free of substances in concentrations that are toxic.  So the permits that regulate discharges from wastewater treatment facilities contained numeric toxicity limits for many years to make sure the discharge didn’t make aquatic life die or have non-lethal impacts (for you “Simpsons” fans, think of Blinky).  With the plethora of chemicals being discharged into our wastewater systems, toxicity tests act as a safety net in the permitting system.

However the real-world effectiveness of these toxicity standards fell into question when the Los Angeles County Sanitation District petitioned its permit to the State Water Board in 2003, and the State Board punted on a decision to actually put any teeth into enforcement.  From that point on, permits in our region and others in the state were modified to remove toxicity limits. The watered-down regulations employed a weak “trigger” for regulatory oversight, which basically led to no consequences — even if a discharge could kill aquatic life.

Aerial view of Mugu Lagoon and Calleguas Creek in Ventura County

Meanwhile in 2005, the Regional Board developed a numeric pollution limit (TMDLs) for discharges to Calleguas Creek in Ventura County. Chlorpyrifos, diazinon and other pesticides and toxicants were causing toxicity in the water body.  However, the Regional Board held off on putting the limits in permits because of the State Board indecision.

Frustrated with the State Board’s indecision, the resulting weak permits and the lack of implementation of the TMDL, Heal the Bay released a report in 2009 titled License to Kill that explored the repercussions of failing to include numeric limits in the permits.  Analyzing the data from 2000-08, we found hundreds of instances of toxicity and very little repercussions for polluting our waters. Essentially that meant little to no follow-up from dischargers and no enforcement by the Regional Water Board.

The report prompted the release of a draft statewide toxicity policy (with a proposed numeric limit) back in 2010.  Heal the Bay has attended many hearings and workshops and submitted extensive comments on the 2010 draft and a number of other drafts over the last few years.  Despite our urging and the prompting of environmental groups, fishing groups and others, the State Board has sat on the policy. They have allowed toxic discharges to continue to inland waters with practically no repercussions for the last 11 years.

So last week, our Regional Water Board got tired of waiting and could not justify continuing with the weak toxicity “trigger” regulatory approach.   They unanimously adopted three wastewater treatment facility permits (Camarillo Water Reclamation Plant, Thousand Oaks Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plan and Simi Valley Water Reclamation Facility) with a numeric toxicity limit.

The Regional Board took a prudent step forward to protect water quality and its members should be commended.  I recognize that there are many competing priorities for the State Water Board – most recently drought response.  However, this does not excuse potentially allowing toxic discharge to our state’s waterbodies for so many years.  The State Board should adopt statewide numeric toxicity limits, as was done in the three local permits, and not expose our waterbodies to toxic discharge any longer.   Hopefully the Regional Board action can serve as the catalyst needed to move the State Board forward on the long overdue state toxicity policy.  Aquatic life has suffered long enough.

We celebrated Earth Day last Saturday with about 1,800 friends who cleaned the beach on the North side of the Santa Monica Pier, picking up more than 600 pounds of trash. Some also built sand castles and visited our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium – and a few capped the day with a cold Heal the Bay IPA.

Thanks to Stephen Supernor and his AmeriCorps group of Team Blue 4-Pacific region volunteers who provided help toting supplies and giving safety talks for the beach cleanup.  

Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds sponsored the family sand castle building contest, allowing us to provide everyone with those essential tools: a bucket and shovel. 

Kudos to our Corporate partners who took sandcastle-building to another level. The following nine firms participated: ARC Engineering, Bernards, Gensler, HOK, Pivot, REI, RTKL, Steinberg Architects and Tangram.

In the Aquarium, underwater photographer Richard Salas took us all along on his dives from Mexico to the Equator, sharing awe-inspiring photographs and accompanying stories.

Looking ahead, we’re thankful to Union Bank for renewing support for Coastal Cleanup Day.

The time has come to cast your ballots!

Attention film buffs: Our Stoked on the Coast Student Film Festival is closed to new submissions but OPEN for public voting between now and midnight, Saturday, September 12. Please share the link and encourage your friends to vote!

Stoked on the Coast Student Film Festival Background

Supported by a generous grant from the California Coastal Conservancy, Stoked on the Coast is a new kind of film festival organized by Heal the Bay staff. As we’re firm believers in the wisdom of children, the contest is only open to students from 5th grade through age 21. We’re inviting young auteurs throughout California to submit a short film (from six seconds to three minutes) that tells the story of why they’re passionate about the ocean. It can be straightforward or silly, meditative or madcap, narrative or stream-of-conscious — it just needs to be authentic.

“This contest gives us a unique perspective on marine conservation: By seeing how the ocean creatively inspires young people, we can better channel that energy into the next generation of stewards,” says Meredith McCarthy, our programs director.

It wouldn’t be a festival without pomp and circumstance, so we’ll be hosting a special Stoked on the Coast soiree later this summer. All entries will be screened, and a variety of prizes will be awarded by celebrity judges. Ultimately, every Stoker is a winner.

Learn more about the festival and enter your films here.

Get stoked, and please share with educators, young film buffs and ocean-lovers everywhere!

Got questions? Contact Edward Murphy, Heal the Bay’s Watershed Education Manager and Stoked on the Coast program coordinator.

Feeling a bit spacey today?

Well, have we got an offer for you – a chance to hitch a ride to outer space.

Through a unique partnership with the Urgency Network and the charitable foundation of the rock band Incubus, Heal the Bay supporters have a chance to do what only 500 or so people have ever done before – enter the final frontier and see the surface of the Earth from a spaceship cockpit.

Safely ensconced in a Lynx Mark II, you’ll have a thrill of a lifetime breaking the sound barrier and being thrust into space from a launch pad in the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Reaching the apogee at 100km, you’ll float in silent, pitch-black darkness for a few minutes before descending back to Earth and gliding home.

Going to space has long been the domain of governments, but private space adventure travel has literally taken off. Now you have the chance to hit infinity and beyond. The good news is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to get there.

By donating now to Heal the Bay, you will be automatically entered into a contest to win a seat on the very first Space Expedition Corp. spaceflight, scheduled for late 2015. For every $10 donated to Heal the Bay at the Urgency Network website, you’ll get 50 entries into the sweepstakes, which is being promoted by three dozen other nonprofits as well. The more you give, the greater your chance of becoming an official astronaut. You can win additional entries by completing tasks like signing petitions or sharing the opportunity on Facebook and Twitter.

The contest ends July 21, so start your G-force training now. Whether it’s the land or the ocean, a better planet begins with a better perspective. See you in space!

Heal the Bay president Ruskin Hartley says it’s time to stop flushing billions of gallons of water into the Bay.

I’d been living in Los Angeles for about six months when a three-day storm hit back in February. I had begun to wonder what all the fuss was about stormwater. Could it really be that bad? Now I know the answer is yes — but not just for the pollution it causes.

I was delighted by the waterfalls that popped up in Topanga Canyon. I was saddened to see the torrent of trash flowing down Chautauqua into the ocean. But what really shocked me was when I learned that the three-day storm, in the middle of an historic drought, flushed enough water into the ocean to meet the needs of our region for one-quarter of a year. That’s crazy.

At a time when cities in Northern California face rationing, and farms in the Central Valley lie fallow, we are flushing billions of gallons of water into the ocean. That same water is causing huge environmental problems because of the trash, pathogens, and toxins it carries. There must be a better way.

Fortunately, there is. There is a growing consensus across the region that stormwater is not just a pollutant, but a valuable source of water. Stormwater capture projects, when done well, deliver water quality benefits, water supply benefits, and bring much needed green space into our city. It is true that stormwater capture is not a panacea for our supply needs. But it is an important part of a portfolio of projects to increase local water reliability that includes water conservation, water recycling, and groundwater cleanup. Today we import 90 percent of our water from more than 100 miles away. At the same time, we dump 350 million gallons a day of treated effluent into the Santa Monica Bay from the Hyperion Treatment Plant, and discharge billions of gallons of polluted stormwater into the bay every time it rains. It’s past time to bring these three separate systems together and focus on an approach to integrated water in our region.

There is some great work underway throughout the region to do this and to deal with stormwater pollution. For example, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Stormwater Capture Master Plan currently in development is looking at infiltration systems built into city streets and improved spreading grounds to refill our groundwater supplies. Countywide, projects are being developed under the MS4 permit to capture and clean up stormwater. More is needed to integrate these projects and look across agency jurisdictions, but that’s not the biggest challenge. What is missing is funding.

In November 2004, voters in the City of Los Angeles approved Proposition O — the Clean Water, Ocean, River, Beach and Bay measure — with an overwhelming yes vote. In the past decade, Prop O has funded dozens of projects, including the restoration of Echo Park Lake and installation of thousands of trash capture devices in storm drains. But as of January 2014, almost $492 million of the $500 million bond was obligated. These projects are helping to get us on track, but there is much more to be done. Without new funding, the rivers, creeks and beaches throughout our region will continue to be polluted.

With the increased consciousness caused by the drought, now is the time for some bold moves. We call on the state legislature to move a water bond that prioritizes investments in local water, including stormwater capture, water recycling, and groundwater cleanup. While they are at it, California lawmakers need to pass reforms that enable municipalities to more easily raise fees for stormwater cleanup. Why should stormwater projects have a higher bar than water supply or refuse pickup? At the local level, we call on our political leaders to prioritize funding for local water, either as stand-alone or part of other infrastructure measures. Potholes may be an annoyance, but water is literally life and death. And at the community level, we encourage everyone to do their part by conserving potable water and capturing stormwater through rain barrels and rain gardens. Become informed about where your water comes from.

It’s an exciting time to be working on water in our region. Join us and be a part of the future of Los Angeles.

Ruskin Hartley, Heal the Bay’s president, has found a reason to love an even rougher morning commute. 

It’s not often that a warning sign on my daily commute makes me happy. But this one did: In bold orange letters, it declared “Avoid PCH South of Temescal 2-5-14 to 4-15-15.” Anyone who knows the Pacific Coast Highway knows that is essentially impossible in Los Angeles. So why was I happy? Because this time, the big orange warning was a beacon of hope for the Bay.

A lot of construction is pretty mundane — filling pot holes or adding lanes so you can get to the next jam a little faster. This one, however, does something more important that will benefit millions every year. Let me explain.

Every day when I drive along the Bay there are a few places near the shoreline at creek and stormdrain outlets where water collects in the sand. Sometimes even at the end of summer these pools still lurk, rife with bacteria. One of these is right where Chautauqua Boulevard meets the Bay in Santa Monica Canyon. This stagnant pool is caused runoff from the canyon that has bypassed the current low-flow diversion. Upstream there are about 1,600 acres that drain to this one point. In a significant rainstorm the channel will breach the sandbar and flush a toxic soup of trash, bacteria and heavy metals into the Bay. But even in dry weather, without a properly maintained low-flow diversion this channel can seep the runoff from our daily lives — leaky pipes, irrigation water, washing your car – directly to the beach. All that water flows downstream, gathering nutrients and pollutants, until it hits the beach, resulting in a ponded area that attracts birds and other fecal bacteria sources. Authorities then advise everyone to keep away due to high bacteria levels. It’s a public health nuisance on one of the world’s most beautiful beaches.

Once this project is completed that stagnant pool will be history. The City of Los Angeles is about to embark on an $8 million, nine-month project to extend a 48-inch sewer line that that will divert all dry season runoff to the Hyperion treatment plant. Some of it will even be treated locally to provide irrigation water for the surrounding community. This is the next phase of the $20 million Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer. When completed, it will help keep bacteria levels in Santa Monica Bay down and help protect your health every time you visit the beach.

For the past 29 years, Heal the Bay has been leading the charge to clean up this pollution by establishing strict pollution limits and by working with public agencies to secure the funding needed to upgrade our aging infrastructure. There’s much more work to be done, but this is an important next step.

I think a little traffic is a small price to pay to help protect the health of people who visit these beaches every year. I’ll report back next year and let you know how it worked.

So next time you’re stuck in traffic on PCH, remember that a healthier Bay is on its way…even if you’re not.

A day at the beach shouldn’t make you sick. It’s a core principle of Heal the Bay and many of our lawmakers deserve our gratitude for reminding others in Washington, D.C. of the importance of water quality testing. We especially want to thank Congressman Henry Waxman for his recent leadership and U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein for their support in the effort to reinstate funding for the BEACH Act grant program at the $9.8 million level. The program, run by the Environmental Protection Agency since its enactment in 2000, helps local governments pay for regular water-quality testing and  has tripled the number of beaches monitored for unsafe bacteria levels, now more than 3,600 locations. These funds are crucial to local communities’ ability to pay for consistent monitoring, a critical element for letting the public know when it’s safe to dive into our coastal waters.

Sarah Sikich, co-director of Heal the Bay’s science and policy department, celebrates a big win for the Santa Monica Mountains

In a unanimous decision, the California Coastal Commission approved the Santa Monica Mountains Land Use Plan at yesterday’s hearing in Santa Barbara. The Land Use Plan, created by the planning department of L.A. County and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’ s office, provides guidance for future development in a critical region of greater Los Angeles.

The plan, which had generated some controversy because of concerns from some landowners, ultimately protects scenic views, water quality, and wild lands in an area enveloped by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the largest urban national park in the U.S.

The Plan was endorsed by a wide group of supporters, including Heal the Bay, Los Angeles Waterkeeper, California Coastal Protection Network, Malibu Surfing Association, Mountains Restoration Trust, Surfrider Foundation, Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, and many residents and equestrian groups from the mountains. Some members of the equestrian community and vineyard developers opposed the plan, arguing that it put undue restrictions on their activities. Each side packed the hearing room, adorned in stickers and buttons showcasing their respective positions

The Land Use Plan outlines the future of the 52,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains Coastal Zone, a region characterized by steep rugged mountains and wildlife ranging from large mountain lions to federally threatened red-legged frogs. It’s also dotted by large estates, ranches, and pockets of communities. Some highlights of the Plan include stream and riparian habitat setback requirements for development, measures to prevent erosion of hillsides and streambanks, policies to prevent polluted runoff and habitat damage from agricultural use in the mountains, and a provision that does not allow for new vineyard development in the mountains.

The provision prohibiting new viticulture drew vocal opposition from some members of the wine community. But, the rugged character of these mountains isn’t compatible with vineyard development. Erosion from soils between rows planted on steep slopes clogs stream habitat upon which newts and frogs depend, and excessive nutrients and pesticide runoff from vineyards can foul water quality.

“You would not plant vineyards in Big Sur, and they shouldn’t be planted in the Santa Monica Mountains,” said Supervisor Yaroslavsky, putting the policy into perspective when he explained the vibrant life and scenic quality of these mountains, which draw in millions of visitors annually. The Plan also grants existing permitted vineyards to remain, and also allows for organic farming in specific regions of the mountains.

The Coastal Commission and Los Angeles County will now work on a parallel path to create the Local Implementation Plan, which determines specific measures to bring the Land Use Plan into effect. That framework is slated for Coastal Commission consideration in June.

Want to learn more about the beautiful Santa Monica Mountain ecoysystem? Join the Stream Team, our citizen scientist program!