$6.6-Million Settlement Reached on Malibu Beach Water Pollution

According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, the city of Malibu, Calif., recently reached a $6.6-million legal settlement with environmental groups.

Both sides say that the agreement will protect beachgoers by reducing the amount of polluted storm runoff that reaches the ocean water.

The settlement of a 2008 federal Clean Water Act lawsuit against the city by Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council was approved April 13 by a unanimous Malibu City Council vote during a special closed-session meeting.

The agreement will require Malibu to build rainwater harvesting, infiltration or treatment devices to catch storm water before it is released from 17 storm drains throughout the city. The work will cost a total of about $5.6 million, City Attorney Christi Hogin told the LA Times. She noted that Malibu is already taking on 11 of those projects.

The city also agreed to pay the environmental groups $750,000 in legal fees and set aside $250,000 to fund an ocean health assessment of Santa Monica Bay in collaboration with scientists at Cal State Northridge.

Water quality experts have long identified storm runoff—the toxic goop that flows toward the ocean when it rains—as the top source of water pollution at Southern California beaches and a key cause of swimmer illnesses.

Steve Fleischli, the Natural Resources Defense Council's senior attorney, said in a statement, “By curbing the biggest sources of pollution in the Santa Monica Bay, we can keep trips to Malibu beaches carefree, and prevent people from getting sick when they go in the ocean.”

Malibu's 21 miles of coastline draw about 13 million visitors a year.

To read the original LA Times Article, click here.

Source: Los Angeles Times