By Janie B. Porter
Daily Bruin Contributor
People from all over the globe think the beaches
“Baywatch” calls home are graced by crystal clear water
and clean white sand.
But according to most natives and activists in the Los Angeles
area, this is not the case. Southern California beaches, especially
those in Los Angeles County, are subjected to record high levels of
pollution ““ a startling fact considering Los Angeles County
is home to more than 300,000 surfers.
According to non-natives, the beaches in the Santa Monica Bay do
not live up to Hollywood hype.
Eva Pavlicek, a first-year undeclared student from Northern
California, who is enrolled in a year-long environmental seminar
and involved with CALPIRG, was disappointed to find Los Angeles
beaches laden by visible signs of pollution.
“Contrary to the myth I believed coming to Southern
California, beaches here are tainted by pollution,” Pavlicek
said.
And there is little wonder why.
Judging by statistics, the coasts of the City of Angels may seem
more like hell than heaven to visitors.
The Santa Monica Bay has been polluted with higher levels of
contaminants than waters of any other urban area in the United
States, according to a 1994 Harper San Francisco article.
Los Angeles waters have also been known to carry dangerously
high levels of parasitic protozoal spores, and viruses such as
Hepatitis A.
In effect, many surfers must take a cleanup rinse before leaving
the beach and wipe their feet with a kerosene-soaked rag to rid
them of tar and crude oil after surf sessions.
Members of Heal the Bay, a non-profit environmental group
committed to cleaning up all of the Santa Monica Bay, are also
savvy to Los Angeles County beaches’ growing pollution
problem.
On the group’s monthly beach report card, Malibu’s
Surfrider Beach and parts of Will Rogers Beach, Santa Monica Beach,
Marina Del Ray and Cabrillo Beach received Fs for the high
bacterial pollution levels in their surf zones.
Don Slaven, executive board member of the Huntington/Seal Beach
Surfrider Chapter, said pollution at Malibu is the fault of the
septic tanks of many older homes in the area. Septic tanks
allegedly permeate the ground with higher levels of polluted
material than more modern plumbing systems.
Slaven also blamed Malibu’s pollution problem on a lack of
citizen responsibility.
He estimated that 200 gallons of liquid waste per person per day
are taken from households, through gutters and treatment plants, to
the ocean. This is based on citizens’ average daily use of
water from activities that include showering, flushing toilets and
washing dishes.
“To get to ballpark figures, you simply multiply the
population of a county by 200 gallons of water use per day, and you
have a general idea of the massive amount of water used and wasted
daily,” Slaven said.
According to the County of Los Angeles, the county’s
population is almost 10 million ““ which may mean that 2
billion gallons of water are disposed daily.
But high pollution levels may not be entirely the fault of
Angelenos.
Members of the Malibu Surfrider Foundation Chapter have
discovered that the Malibu Creek Watershed, a waterway that runs
from inland Los Angeles county to Malibu Beach, is polluted by
urban runoff from development along the watershed.
“Las Virgenes Municipal Water District operates a water
treatment plant that sits on the creek,” said Jeff Duclos,
co-chairman of the Malibu Surfrider Chapter and UCLA Extension
instructor.
“Think of it as a daily flush, with everything in the
creek washed into the lagoon and eventually into the surf
zone,” he continued.
Duclos also said that the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District
is allowed to dump 16 million gallons of treated water per day into
the creek.
Yet Norm Buehring, director of Resource Conservation for the Las
Virgenes Municipal Water District reported that they actually dump
less than 10 million gallons per day into the creek, and they are
only allowed to do so between April and November.
Arlene Post, spokeswoman for the Las Virgenes treatment
facility, denied that any polluted water from the facility is
released into the Malibu Creek Watershed.
She said the water released by the Las Virgenes facility is
approved by the Department of Health as being safe for full body
contact.
“You can swim in the (Malibu Creek Watershed)
water,” she said.
Still, Grant Neie, a surfer and Malibu Surfrider volunteer,
believes that the damage done by Las Virgenes Municipal Water
District to the California coast is undisputable.
“Last year, as soon as the sewage treatment plant stopped
releasing water into the upland Malibu Creek Watershed, the area
started receiving a grade A according to Heal the Bay and the
County Department of Health Services,” he said. “When
the treated sewage is being released, the grade is consistently an
F. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to understand the
connection.”
Still, Buehring countered allegations made by the Surfrider
Foundation.
“If you put it (water that the Las Virgenes Municipal
Water District releases into the creek) in a glass, it would be
clear,” he said.
Buehring cited other pollution sources along the creek which
include bird and horse droppings, illegal area camping and regional
septic seepage.
“Our water is not part of that pollution,” he
said.
In line with Buehring’s comments, Peggy Hamner of
UCLA’s Marine Science Center said that treatment plants have
actually helped improve the cleanliness of Los Angeles waters. She
cited the Hyperion Treatment Plant of El Segundo as helping the
pollution problem of the Santa Monica Bay.
“The major reason cleanliness of the beaches has improved
is sewage treatment. The Hyperion Treatment Plant is one of the
most advanced in the world,” she said.
But to many, resolution of Los Angeles’s pollution problem
still does not seem likely in the near future.
Neie said environmental concerns do not motivate dumping
facilities to listen to their environmental consciences.
“Some sewage plants just release raw sewage and pay the
fine since it’s cheaper than treatment and they cannot handle
the volume that the increasing population generates,” he
said.
In addition to outfall from treatment plants, high quantities of
polluted water can be drained into the ocean during periods of
heavy rainfall.
The Surfrider Foundation suggests that beachgoers not surf or
swim near locations of outfall-sewer pipes, drains, and creeks
““ or within 72 hours of a storm.
Surfers or not, volunteers are beginning to get the public and
treatment plants to clean up their acts.
The Stream Team, a volunteer group supported by Heal the Bay,
aims at locating degraded habitats and pollution sources in the
Malibu Creek Watershed.
At least one weekend a month, Stream Team volunteers look for
and make record of unstable stream banks, artificial stream bank
modifications, large patches of exotic or invasive vegetation,
possible barriers to fish passage and illegal dump sites.
The Surfrider Foundation has also made efforts toward a cleaner
California coast through programs such as Blue Water Task Force,
Beachscape, Clean Water, and Surf Site Stewardship.
But environmental organizations cannot clean up Los Angeles
beaches alone. They recommend that citizens use household water
judiciously: not flush trash down toilets, dispose of toxins
responsibly, and become educated about the importance of conserving
beaches’ natural resources.
“We have the Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay, Sierra
Club, Save Ballona, Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Coast Keepers. We have
educated citizens, but we also have very powerful
developers,” Slaven said.
“There are over 3,500 species sharing the California
coast,” he added, “but humans are the only ones
destroying it.”
Visit www.healthebay.org and www.surfrider.org for information
on getting involved in local environmental issues.