$1.25 Million For Santa Monica Bay Cleanup

MALIBU--The California Integrated Waste Management Board has given a boost to Santa Monica Bay cleanup efforts with the award of $1.25 million in grants to the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica for projects to keep trash out of Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Creek. The Waste Board is the state's primary recycling agency and part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

Environmental groups joined State and local officials in a funding ceremony on the beach at Malibu Lagoon today to acknowledge the two cities' leadership in addressing problems of beach and bay contamination from storm drains and bacteria-laden trash.

"Santa Monica Bay is a resource enjoyed not just by local residents and surfers, but also by millions of Californians from diverse communities who flock to its magnificent beaches each summer," said Waste Board Chair Linda Moulton-Patterson. "With these projects, the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica are setting the pace in the effort to address contamination from solid waste in urban runoff, and the Waste Board and Cal/EPA are very pleased to be able to assist them."

The Waste Board has collaborated with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to target cleanup activities at urban streams and beaches. The Board has awarded a $500,000 matching grant to the City of Malibu towards the cost of removing solid waste from and disinfecting storm drains flowing into Malibu Creek and Lagoon. A $2 million grant for the project from the Governor's Clean Beaches Initiative was awarded to the city earlier this year. A $750,000 grant from the Board to the City of Santa Monica will help fund trash removal facilities in storm drains leading to Ballona Creek.

"I extend my thanks to the Waste Board for these significant grants to help remove trash and other contaminants from the Santa Monica Bay," stated Assemblymember Fran Pavley, who currently represents the coastal areas from Santa Monica to the Ventura County border. "Keeping the Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Creek clean is good for the health of the Bay itself and critical for the residents and tourists who so heavily use this beautiful stretch of beach along the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu."

Santa Monica Bay's only brackish lagoon, Malibu Lagoon provides ecologically sensitive wetlands habitat for fish and wildlife. The adjacent public beach (Surfrider Beach) is a popular beach for surfers, residents and tourists and has been subject to contamination for a number of years. The accumulation of trash and other solid wastes, such as contaminated soil and sediments, is a significant component of the existing pollution found at this site and a potential source of bacteria. These accumulated wastes have spread downstream to beaches, wetlands, and other public contact areas in the past.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has issued a draft trash Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Ballona Creek, which provides ecologically sensitive habitat for fish and wildlife and enters Santa Monica Bay at Venice Beach and Dockweiler State Beach. Heal the Bay, a local nonprofit organization, commonly rates these beaches poorly due to bacterial contamination. Heal the Bay analyzes data from county health departments and discharger monitoring reports, and grades over 400 California beaches weekly for bacterial contamination.

"Ballona Creek and Malibu Creek are the two largest sources of storm drain pollution to Santa Monica Bay," said Mark Gold, Executive Director of Heal the Bay. "We commend the Waste Board for providing resources to help clean up Santa Monica Bay's most polluted beach--Malibu Surfrider Beach--and the largest source of trash, Ballona Creek."

Both the Malibu Lagoon and Santa Monica projects will include construction of vortex separation and disinfection units that the cities will maintain to prevent future accumulation of solid waste and leachate. These systems have the added benefit of disinfecting solid waste leachate and other contaminated liquid wastes by diverting these flows through treatment systems to the sanitary sewer.

In Malibu, these facilities will be constructed at three urban runoff outfall sites (Cross Creek, Civic Center, and Malibu Road) that drain approximately 150 acres of commercial and highway land use. The Santa Monica project will be constructed at the Sepulveda drainage channel prior to its confluence with Ballona Creek.

Funding for the Waste Board grants comes from the Solid Waste Disposal and Codisposal Site Cleanup and Abatement Program. For more information, visit www.ciwmb.ca.gov/LEACentral/GrantsLoans/SolidWaste/.

The six-member California Integrated Waste Management Board is responsible for protecting public health and safety and the environment through management of the estimated 66 million tons of solid waste generated in California each year. The Board works in partnership with local government, industry, and the public to reduce solid waste disposal and ensure environmentally safe landfills. California now diverts 42 percent of its solid waste away from disposal.

The Waste Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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