Council Considers Hosting Water Quality Symposium

BY BILL KOENEKER

If a majority of the Malibu City Council can agree next week, Malibu will host a water quality symposium featuring government officials and technical experts in a one-day event to provide the public with the most recent advances and findings in the water quality field.
In an apparent nod to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the symposium is the brainchild of the council's stormwater/wastewater ad hoc committee comprised of Councilmembers Sharon Barovsky and John Sibert. The ad hoc committee is expected to ask the council to approve the idea and allocate $10,000 from the general fund to cover the costs of advertising and hosting the event.
“In light of the recent developments with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the stormwater/wastewater ad hoc committee is requesting council approval for the city to host a water quality symposium,” wrote City Manager Jim Thorsen, in a memo to other council members.
Municipal officials are prepared to ask experts from the U.S. Geological Survey, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, the Southern California Coastal Water research Project and others to provide presentations on their finding of recent studies and projects.
Plans call for the afternoon session to include a roundtable discussion involving presenters. lawmakers, scientists and attendees.
Both Barovksy and Sibert have indicated they would take the lead in organizing the symposium using the help of the city’s grants consultant Barbara Cameron and the municipality's capital campaign coordinator Susan Shaw Noble.