DRAINS CARRY TOXINS TO SEA; CHANNELS FLOW WITH POLLUTION.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

As rainstorms pounded the San Fernando Valley Wednesday, a web of urban creeks coursed through their concrete channels, acting as liquid conveyor belts for toxic chemicals and debris.

In Canoga Park, where Bell Creek crosses Fallbrook Avenue, the water roiled with yellowish-brown foam, and a Styrofoam plate bobbed atop the dirty froth.

The day before, another channel near Vanowen Street had been littered with disposable coffee cups and a rusty, abandoned lawn chair, while water trickled down its concrete bottom. During Wednesday's rains the trickle became a rushing current and the rubbish was swept seaward.

Along with the visible refuse of suburban society, the network of waterways that traverse the Southland carries poisonous hidden cargo.

``Urban runoff contains literally any pollutant that happens to be in the street or on a rooftop,'' said Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay. ``What that means is a wide variety of heavy metals, animal waste, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, motor oil and trash.''

Although emissions from factories or wastewater treatment plants have been regulated for decades, storm-water runoff was not controlled until federal law required it in 1990.

As a result, no one knows precisely how much pollution the runoff carries to the ocean, or what damage it might cause to humans and other organisms. Regulators say the storm-water runoff program is still under development.

``The program as a whole is very new and all the players are trying to find what the really best solutions are,'' said Catherine Tyrell, director of coastal water programs for the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

But some environmental advocates say efforts to monitor and control polluted runoff are already falling short.

``Only in the last eight years has storm-water pollution been regulated, and to be quite candid, the progress on the programs has been very poor,'' Gold said.

Looks like trash dump

When it rains in the Valley, when you water your lawn or wash your car, the runoff washes down storm drains, into creeks and along the Los Angeles River to Long Beach.

``After it rains, the Long Beach beach looks like a trash dump,'' said Dorothy Green, founding president of Heal the Bay. ``The trash is what you can see. It's what you don't see that can be very noxious.''

While the Valley's runoff ends up in Long Beach, Valley residents visiting Malibu Beach encounter the refuse from Malibu and Pacific Palisades residents, which flows through Malibu Creek.

A 1995 study by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project documented the effects of storm-water runoff on 15,000 swimmers.

Beachgoers swimming in front of storm drains reported a 127 percent higher rate of ear infection, a 111 percent higher rate of gastrointestinal illness and a 66 percent higher rate of respiratory disease than those swimming 400 yards away. Rates of fever, chills, vomiting and coughing were also elevated.

``Storm-water runoff may carry disease-causing microorganisms, and if you swim in or near the water that is contaminated by the storm-water runoff, then you have an increased chance of getting ill,'' Wang said.

Scientists have also found evidence that runoff is harmful to plants and animals that live in the sea.

``When we do toxicity tests (on marine organisms), we almost always find that the undiluted runoff is toxic,'' said Steve Bay, a scientist with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.

Laboratory tests have shown that diluted samples of storm-water runoff have impaired abalone development and sea urchin fertilization, Bay said.

However, marine organisms living in the mud near storm drains don't show the same changes as the lab animals. Scientists aren't sure yet what that means, but say it shows further research is needed.

County makes strides

Storm-water runoff in Southern California is regulated by three types of permits: for construction sites, industrial facilities, and cities.

Los Angeles County is the principal holder of a general permit that covers itself and 85 cities within its borders.

In the eight years the permit has been in effect, county officials say they've made strides toward reducing the pollutants in storm-water runoff by reducing discharge of contaminants, controlling spills, inspecting industrial facilities that don't have their own permits, monitoring storm-water pollution and educating the public about how to keep storm water clean.

But critics say that while the county has done a good job, some cities are lagging. And the program is weakened by its lack of numeric goals for reducing pollution in storm-water runoff, Gold said.

Tyrell said the variable contaminant levels of storm-water runoff make it more difficult to regulate than a consistent source like a factory or sewage treatment plants, although she hopes to see numeric limits in the future.

Gold and other critics say such standards are overdue. They point to estimates showing that the levels of some heavy metals in storm channels in Southern California vastly exceed the amount released by the region's wastewater treatment plants.

According to calculations by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, the treated effluent released into the ocean by four of the largest wastewater treatment plants in Southern California contained a combined 2.4 metric tons of lead.

The region's storm drains, on the other hand, emitted more than 15 times that amount - an estimated 39.3 metric tons.

``There are well-accepted effluent limits applying to sewage treatment plants and industries,'' Gold said. ``If the same amount of effluent comes out of a storm drain, it's also going to have detrimental effects on aquatic life. But one is regulated and one is not.''

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Photo, Map

Photo: Bags of washed-up trash and debris lie on Topanga State Beach. Runoff from Topanga Creek flows into the ocean in Malibu.

Phil McCarten/Daily News

Map: STORM-WATER RUNOFF