DISTRICT TO PRESENT PLAN TO PIPE EXCESS WATER INTO RIVER.Byline: Krystn Shrieve Daily News Staff Writer With June gloom predicted to last the entire summer, dreary weather has become the Las Virgenes Water District's worst enemy. District officials fear that rainstorms will force them to violate a state ban on discharging wastewater into Malibu Creek Malibu Creek is a year-round stream in western Los Angeles County, California. It drains the southern Simi Hills and the westernmost San Fernando Valley, flows south through the Santa Monica Mountains, and enters Santa Monica Bay at Malibu Lagoon, in Malibu. - something that's already happened once this season. And they know just how serious those violations can be, having been fined $187,000 last year, a penalty reduced on appeal to $38,000. Officials have devised a plan to pipe the excess water into the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. but haven't been able to schedule a meeting with the state Regional Water Quality Board. A meeting set for last month has been postponed to June 30. So while they wait for a decision to be rendered, district officials are coming up with innovative ways of getting rid of as much as 84 million gallons of excess water per month. Treated water, which is suitable for swimming but not for drinking, is used mostly for irrigating playgrounds, golf courses and parks. Water district officials are spraying their own fields and even offering incentives to customers to use an unlimited amount of water and pay what they were charged in 1997. The water district also has established a farm, bearing corn and Sudan grass Sudan grass: see sorghum. , on Las Virgenes Road, which it irrigates liberally. Meanwhile, the 92-page diversion proposal waits. The proposal initially garnered criticism because it diverted the treated water through a natural portion of Dry Canyon Creek Canyon Creek can mean the following:
Water district officials say the original plan evolved in a way that will alleviate concerns. Norm Buehring, director of resource conservation for the Las Virgenes district, said under the new plan, diversion has been moved about 60 feet downstream to a concrete lined portion of Dry Canyon Creek. From that point, the water will travel through an existing pipeline that will bring water to a concrete storm drain storm drain n. 1. A storm sewer. 2. A catch basin. through which the water will travel. It will eventually flow into the Los Angeles River, through the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and down to the San Pedro Bay San Pedro Bay may refer to:
Environmentalists, who didn't like the first plan, don't like the second one much more. But because it is only temporary, they will tolerate it until long-term solutions outlined in creek avoidance studies are put in place. ``The district is looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. using the water in agricultural communities,'' said Jacqueline Lambrichts, a water quality expert with the group Friends of the Los Angeles River. ``This long-term solution would be a win-win solution for us. Our organization supports water recycling, and this looks really promising.'' |
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