Scenes such as this - a closed Surfrider Beach - will decrease as a result of the new TMDL for the Malibu Creek watershed. Photo: Craig Shuman/Heal the Bay
Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach are at the outlet of the Malibu Creek watershed. Photo: Copyright © 2002-2003 Kenneth Adelman, California Coastal Records Project.

On Thursday, January 29, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted to adopt limits on fecal bacteria levels for the Malibu Creek watershed. The limits will make Malibu's Surfrider Beach (currently the most polluted beach in the Santa Monica Bay) and Malibu Creek and Lagoon's popular swimming holes cleaner and safer for people.

The limits are called TMDLs (or total maximum daily loads), which regulate how much of a specific pollutant is allowed in a specific watershed (see sidebar on right for more information). Exposure to excessive levels of bacteria can cause swimmers and surfers to contract the stomach flu, upper respiratory infections and skin rashes. One of the most controversial parts of the regulation will require, within three to six years in dry weather, "high-risk systems" or those on-site wastewater treatment systems within 250 feet of the creek or within 10 feet of a groundwater source to begin disinfecting discharged water or proving through extensive monitoring that the system is not polluting the creek. Systems will have 10-18 years to comply with the regulations in wet weather, because of the difficulty of reducing fecal bacteria in stormwater.

"This is a major victory for Surfrider Beach, which was posted with health warnings for more than 50 days last year because of unsafe levels of bacteria," said Heal the Bay Executive Director Dr. Mark Gold, who testified at the January 29th Board hearing. "When these limits are implemented, the incidence of people becoming sick from swimming in the creek or surfing at Surfrider Beach will dramatically decrease."

Surfrider is consistently ranked among the dirtiest beaches statewide in Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card, which rates beaches according to bacteria levels. The Beach Report Card's annual report has placed Surfrider Beach on the dubious "Beach Bummer" listing (worst 10 beaches) each of the last four years, and it's overall grade history is among the lowest for all graded locations.

The new environmental standards will require a sharp decrease in bacteria levels entering Malibu Creek from the Malibu Creek Watershed- a 109 square-mile stretch winding from the Simi Hills across the Santa Monica Mountains and into the ocean. According to Dr. Gold, current bacterial pollution most likely originates from urban runoff, agricultural uses, runoff from horse ranches and on-site wastewater treatment systems.

Since 1985, Heal the Bay has been working to improve water quality through issues advocacy, public education, volunteer programs and projects like Adopt-A-Beach and Coastal Cleanup Day. Heal the Bay's extensive water chemistry monitoring data, compiled by the organization's Malibu Creek Stream Team, was used by the Board to help develop the watershed's TDML requirements.

"All the bacteria from the watershed currently end up in one place - Surfrider Beach," said Dr. Gold. "Cleaning up Malibu Creek and Lagoon has been a top priority for the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board for the past 5 years, and these limits will make that a reality."