City of los angeles general plan

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

II-53

not to eat white croakers caught off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Federal and state lawsuits have been filed to recover damage, abatement

and restoration costs from companies that allegedly dumped the wastes.

Trash pollution. Trash is a major part of stormwater pollution. In

anticipation of major storms, the county erects trash fences or nets at

flood control channel outlets to capture debris before it can disperse

into the ocean. Some 13 tons of trash was captured at the Ballona Creek

outlet during a single heavy early season storm in the fall of 1997.

The most common debris is plastic, probably due to the effectiveness of

recycling of glass and metal, the common use of plastics and limited

plastic recycling programs. The NPDES permit requires improvement of

street cleaning to keep debris from ending up in storm drains and

improvement of public information programs in the schools and elsewhere

to encourage appropriate trash disposal and recycling. The city's NPDES

public information program informs people about the damage debris can

cause to marine life and encourages use of trash containers. Abatement

measures will be expanded under the TMDL related program.

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA requires that

potential runoff associated with proposed development projects be

evaluated. Stormwater questions are included in the CEQA initial

studies checklist in order to assure evaluation of potential impacts,

consistent with the 1996 NPDES permit. If potentially significant

impacts are identified, imposition of mitigation measures is required

to reduce the volume of water that will flow into drainage and flood

control systems and bodies of water, to assure maintenance of water

quality and to protect against or mitigate potential negative changes

in the surface water flow. City CEQA procedures also require evaluation

for diversion and capture of water runoff, as required by the NPDES

permit.

Santa Monica Bay cleanup. The bay stretches from Point Dume (west of

Malibu) to Point Fermin (San Pedro). The federal Water Quality Act

designated the bay an "estuary of national significance" (1987). The

Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project (SMBRP), a partnership of

governmental officials, environmentalists, scientists and

representatives of the industrial sector, was established by the state

and federal government to prepare a plan for protection and management

of the bay. The plan was approved in 1995. Propositions 12 and 13,

approved by California voters in March 2000, include funding for plan

implementation. 

The SMBRP report "Taking the Pulse of the Bay - State of the Bay 1998,"

assessed the effectiveness of cleanup actions and issues. It estimated

that, since the early 1970s, pollution from heavy metals decreased by

67 to 99 percent and pollution from suspended solids decreased by 83

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

II-54

percent (from 250,000 to 43,000 metric tons), in spite of a 25 percent

increase in the population of the metropolitan area. Between 1988 and

1997 the annual number of beach closures due to wastewater spills

decreased from 46 to 6 events. Even the unusually heavy January and

February 1998 storms resulted in spills that closed the beaches for

only 27 days. The SMBRP report concluded that overall improvement of

the bay was due primarily to cessation of sludge dumping from the

city's Hyperion wastewater treatment plant, improved city and county

wastewater treatment and efficiency and cessation of chemical dumping.

During the 20-year period there has been a regeneration of plant and

animal life along the entire Los Angeles coast. Of particular

significance is the regeneration of kelp beds. Kelp attaches to rocky

ocean bottoms off Malibu and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The beds are

considered the rain forest of the southern California marine

environment. They support over 800 species of fish and invertebrates,

some of which live only in kelp communities. The beds were reduced

significantly from 1940 to 1974, primarily due to wastewater discharge,

sea urchin grazing and oceanographic conditions. With cleaner water and

sediments and the replanting of kelp, the beds regenerated and

enlarged. Kelp growth leveled off in 1990, possibly due to ocean

warming and increased sea urchin grazing. The increase in fish and

invertebrate populations associated with the beds contributed to

increases in the marine animal populations of the bay, including sea

lions, which numbered 150 animals in the mid-1980s and now are

estimated to number over 700 animals. 

No major changes occurred in the intertidal communities, i.e., the

beaches and rocky areas that are exposed by low tides. Invertebrate

colonies remained stable, except for black abalone which virtually

disappeared from the bay and California coast, probably due to over

harvesting and disease. In 1997 the state legislature enacted a 10-year

ban on abalone fishing south of San Francisco Bay. 

In short, the general health of the Santa Monica Bay improved over the

past 20 years but continuing cleanup of contaminated sediments and

discharges into the bay is needed. The goal of NPDES and related

programs is to reduce contaminants at their source or to capture or

divert contaminants before they reach the bay. 

San Pedro Bay cleanup. The same type of measures that improved the

Santa Monica Bay contributed to cleanup of the San Pedro Bay. The

Terminal Island wastewater treatment plant and county outfall system

were upgraded (1980s). The Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor

authorities enforce dumping and contain spills from sites and

facilities over which they have authority. The U.S. Coast Guard is

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