BEACH POLLUTION SOLUTION SOUGHT.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer State water officials have proposed a 20-year plan aimed at reducing the number of days it's dangerous and unhealthy to swim at Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is an arm of the Pacific Ocean in southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume beaches. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board will vote today on the proposed rule, which would give city and county officials a year to decide how they'll reduce bacteria borne by stormwater into the bay. Heal the Bay Heal the Bay is a U.S. environmental advocacy non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, California. Heal the Bay is dedicated to protecting California's Santa Monica Bay, a region of the Pacific coast encompassed by Malibu's Point Dume on the north and the Palos Verdes Executive Director Mark Gold praised the proposal, saying it is the first regulation ``that acknowledges we have a right to swim and surf in clean water 365 days.'' The city of Los Angeles
However, Los Angeles County officials question whether the state proposal is even possible. The state gives cities and the county two options to deal with bacteria pollution. First, the agencies could capture and disinfect To remove the virus code that has attached itself to a legitimate file. Sometimes, the antivirus program cannot untangle the code, and the infected file has to be deleted. See quarantine. stormwater before releasing it into the ocean. They would have a decade to implement this process. Second, the agencies could choose to capture stormwater and recycle it for irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. or for replenishing groundwater. This is a more-complicated system to develop so agencies would have 18 years to build it. But county Stormwater Quality Manager Adam Ariki said it could be dangerous to capture and hold stormwater in the Malibu hills, which are prone to mudslides. And the first option would call for a large treatment plant to be built in Malibu. ``Can you imagine building a treatment plant on the Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
The state wants agencies to decide in one year. Los Angeles Stormwater Manager Shahram Kharaghani said the city is already planning to develop a massive system to capture and reuse stormwater. The state's proposal will just accelerate the city's plans. The state's proposal deals with 44 beaches from the Los Angeles/Ventura county line to just south of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. In a 2001 report, the Santa Monica Baykeeper looked at 324 storm drains that empty into the bay and found that during rainy periods 84 percent of samples exceeded coliform coliform /col·i·form/ (kol´i-form) pertaining to fermentative gram-negative enteric bacilli, sometimes restricted to those fermenting lactose, e.g., Escherichia, Klebsiella, or Enterobacter. standards. Animal waste and septic systems are major sources of bacteria pollution. |
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