LA County joins lawsuit to clean up the bay
By Jessica Roberts
Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN LA — Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to join as
plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the United States Environmental
Protection Agency in an attempt to force the entity to complete its
studies on the effects of pathogens on human health and to develop new
water quality criteria for the polluted Santa Monica Bay.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to bring
the county government into the lawsuit, filed by the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC). The environmental group filed the suit on Aug.
2 after the EPA failed to meet deadlines outlined in the Beaches
Environmental Assessment, Cleanup & Health (BEACH) Act, which is an
amendment to the Clean Water Act. The deadline to complete the studies
was October 2003, and the deadline for publishing new pathogen
criteria was October 2005, according to environmentalists.

The BEACH Act requires the EPA to complete studies to determine the
human health risks associated with exposure to pathogens in coastal
recreational waters, especially nongastrointestinal effects, and to
release revised water quality criteria for pathogens and their indicators.

The water quality criteria would set limits on the amount of
pollutants that can be allowed in a body of water without disrupting
its designated use, like swimming or fishing, according to
environmentalists.

LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the westside of
LA, said getting involved in the lawsuit was "part of a strategy to
join with the Natural Resources Defense Council to get the EPA to
establish rules ... to hold us accountable for clean discharge into
the bay."

Water quality criteria will get more attention on Thursday, when the
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) is scheduled
to vote on whether to make bacteria pollution limits easily
enforceable, by placing the requirements in the LA County stormwater
permit. In order to be enforceable, the bacteria pollution limits need
to be incorporated into the permitting process, environmentalists
said. Otherwise, many of the Santa Monica Bay beaches will continue to
be unhealthful for the 50 million annual visitors to the coastline,
environmentalists said.

More than three years ago, with no opposition, the RWQCB approved the
Santa Monica Bay Beaches Dry-Weather Bacteria Total Maximum Daily
Loads (TMDLs). Cities and other dischargers of pollutants were given
until July 15, 2006 to meet the bacteria pollution limits and be in
compliance with the TMDLs, requiring all of Santa Monica Bay beaches
to be safe for beachgoers 100 percent of the time in the dry season
from April through October.

Even with three years lead time since the standards were set, many of
Santa Monica Bay's beaches still have elevated bacteria levels.
Twenty-three of the 65 beaches tested in Santa Monica Bay — more than
one-third — have violated the Clean Water Act since the July 15
deadline to meet clean water standards at area beaches,
environmentalists said.

In July, the RWQCB decided to postpone a vote to make the beach water
quality standards more easily enforceable, rescheduling the issue for
a Sept. 14 meeting. However, the board has begun sending letters to LA
County and various cities violating pollution standards, asking them
to identify the pollution source and provide other information within
two weeks. Failure to comply could result in a $1,000 per day fine.

The departments of Public Health, Public Works and Beaches and Harbors
made a joint report on water quality in Santa Monica Bay at Tuesday's
Board of Supervisors meeting, announcing new plans to inform the
public about water quality test results, as well as plans to further
test the bay's water.

Jonathan Fielding, director of the LA County Department of Public
Health, said more signs will be posted at points of outflow from storm
drains, and beaches with consistently low grades in water quality will
be posted with signs warning of the health risks associated with
swimming in the water.

"The public needs to know what the condition of the water is, where
they should swim, where they shouldn't swim," Yaroslavsky said.

Tests also will be expanded to include not only locations 50 yards
from storm drains as is the current practice, but also at the point of
storm drain outflow, Fielding said.

He added that beaches in the northern and western parts of the bay
have the worst water quality, although the causes are uncertain. He
said it was possible the pollution was coming from septic tanks and
domestic and wild animal waste, but that a task force would begin to
work to identify types and sources of pollution in the water.

Yaroslavsky said the county was "taking a more aggressive approach
than we have in the past" to protect what he called one of the
county's most important environmental and economic resources — Santa
Monica Bay.

"We do not want to squander the resource we have here," he said.