City Hopes New Data Will Slow RWQCB Push for Septic Ban

• Major Public Meeting on Oct. 1

BY BILL KOENEKER

The City of Malibu appears to be readying a full-court press with alternative scientific data to challenge currently held assumptions about the nature of pollution in Malibu Creek and Lagoon in time to try to derail possible implementation of a proposed Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board septic system prohibition for mid-Malibu in November.
It has not been announced whether this new data will be available at the second community meeting on the proposed septic ban in the Civic Center area and surrounding residential communities set for Thursday, Oct. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Elkins auditorium at Pepperdine University. RWQCB staff indicated they wanted to have another community meeting at night for those who work or cannot attend daytime meetings.
The meetings are a preview of the public hearing scheduled for Nov. 5 in downtown Los Angeles—at which time some preliminary data is expected to be presented as part of testimony requesting a delay—where the state agency’s board is expected to take action on the proposed prohibition, which could begin immediately for new construction and go into effect within five years for existing septic and wastewater systems. The only exception is zero discharge systems.
The community meetings are considered an opportunity for the public “to assist the board with its deliberations,” and provide the staff an opportunity to hear from the public with comments and questions.
Stakeholders and other interested individuals can comment on the proposed prohibition by attending the community meeting, submitting written comments for the board or providing oral testimony during the board meeting in November.
The proposed prohibition attracted more attention after it was learned the septic ban’s boundaries include the residential neighborhoods of Sweetwater Mesa, Serra Retreat, Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Malibu Knolls and Winter Canyon, including the schools, churches and condos. The prohibition applies to all commercial, residential and public properties.
The staff of the RWQCB issued a revised technical memo, one of many that is about pathogens in wastewater that is in hydraulic connection with beaches and is described as representing a source of impairment for water contact recreation.
Now that Malibu has prepared its own studies, City Manager Jim Thorsen announced in a press release, “We have asked the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to place its proposed prohibition on onsite wastewater treatment systems on hold until it has all the information from these studies to be certain it achieves the goals we all share; protecting the public’s health and improving water quality.” said City Manager Jim Thorsen. The five new studies of Malibu water quality are expected to be completed in the next six to nine months.
The RWQCB staff report concludes that Malibu Creek, lagoon and nearby beaches with one million visitors per year are a major destination for swimmers, surfers and other beachgoers who are in contact with the water. The board has previously designated those waters for water contact recreation, meaning standards should be set using the best available science at levels that “will protect human health.”
“As determined by the regional board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, surface waters in the Malibu Creek Civic Center area are impaired for water contact recreation and consistently have failed to meet state health and water quality standards to protect swimmers and surfers in contact with the water. Repeated failures to meet standards set to protect public health have resulted in a poor water quality reputation for Surfrider Beach,” the report states.
The report examined the hydraulic connection of discharges from on-site wastewater dischargers through groundwater to nearby surface waters.
The RWQCB staff evaluated more than 8000 samples of wastewater effluent, underlying or nearby groundwater and surface waters.
“Staff determined that pathogens from wastewaters likely migrate to surface waters and that consistent with data supporting the designations of impairments, and threaten human health. This conclusion is based on our analysis of the indicator bacteria, bacterium entercoccus. The levels of this bacterium do not meet standards protective of human health.
“Staff also determined that risks of infectious disease from water contact recreation were elevated at beaches in the Malibu Civic Center based on work by Haile et al,” the report goes on to state. “Staff also reviewed numerous studies, previous studies and found conclusions from these other studies to be consistent with staff’s determination of impairment to the beneficial use of water contact recreation.”
However, the city commissioned research undertaken this past summer by the United State Geological Survey that focused on groundwater transport of pathogens to the ocean and reached different preliminary conclusions based on some sophisticated research using radioisotopes and DNA samples.
The researchers maintain that they can then identify the exact kinds of pathogens in the water and also determine whether human-based pathogens have moved into the water at the beaches and lagoon by the same hy-draulics as stipulated by RWQCB staff.
Without discussion, the Malibu City Council this week approved $120,000 for the study by the USGS researchers to “provide scientific assistance in preparing the city’s response to comments with regard to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s proposed prohibition.”
The allocation will also allow the USGS to provide additional studies and groundwater data and to prepare a presentation of previously collected data at the Headwaters to Ocean Conference in Long Beach in October.
Thorsen also told council members the city was planning its own workshop before the board hearing in November.