New Stormwater Treatment Facility Is Ready for Its Close-Up

BY HANS LAETZ

As TV cameras rolled and print journalists took notes Friday, Malibu officials crowded around the control panel at the city’s new $5.8 million stormwater treatment plant. The switch was flipped.

And nothing happened: the plant was functioning just like it was supposed to.

The water-cleaning machine is in standby mode, ready to begin filtering, disinfecting and releasing up to 1400 gallons per minute of rainwater gathered from commercial development in the Civic Center area. Low-flow water runoff will be stripped of fertilizer residue, manure and urban flotsam, and, whenever possible used for irrigation in nearby gardens.

“But this is just the first step,” said Mayor Ken Kearsley to the crowd of 60 people attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “When we get Legacy Park built, this building is built with the capacity to treat 85-90 percent of all the stormwater that falls in the Civic Center area.”

All that water has to be stored temporarily, and the city has its brand new $25 million site in mind. Malibu Legacy Park is being designed to serve as a giant sponge capable of holding water for use on landscaping or subjected to evaporation, Kearsley said.

Kearsley predicted a day in the near future “when the 5 million people who go out to First Point every year get some hope that they’re not going to come down with an ear infection, or a throat infection.”

It took five months to build the facility at the corner of Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road, and the three drains that lead to it from the nearby comercial areas.

Like the entire Malibu Creek watershed project, the city added a share of local tax money to state grants to build the new facility. The State Water Resources Control Board put up $4 million in grants, the State Coastal Conservancy kicked in $1 million, and $500,000 came from the California Integrated Waste Management Board. The city contributed $300,000 in general funds.

“This is of enormous regional importance,” said state Assemblymember Julia Brownley. “It’s no small thing that a small city can cobble together $25 million for the park purchase,” she said.

Mark Gold, the executive director of Heal The Bay, a group that monitors ocean water quality up and down the coast, said his longtime goal of seeing “Malibu grow up and take responsibility for its problems” has been accomplished.

“This project is going to clean up Surfrider Beach,” he said. Malibu is taking leadership to make sure they do their part to clean up Surfrider Beach for all of the millions of people who swim there every year.

“This is a watershed day for Malibu.”


CAPTION b. Photo credit, MSN/Frank Lamonea

CELEBRATION—State Senator Sheila Kuehl flips the switch at the ribbon-cutting for the city’s new stormwater treatment plant last Friday. City, county and state officials attended the ceremony for the long-awaited facility located at Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road.