Countdown to California Coastal Cleanup Day!

On Saturday September 25, 2010 the 26th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day will be held across California. Last year’s turn out for the largest marine environment event in the country was enormous here in the Golden State. Over 80,600 great volunteers collected over 1.3 million pounds of trash and recyclables.

This year promises to be just as successful!

California Coastal Cleanup Day is made possible by the California Coastal Commission's Adopt-A-Beach program. From 9 a.m. to Noon this coming Saturday, volunteers will be congregating at over 50 locations in LA County alone. And it’s not too late to join in the cause to pick up unwanted litter before it makes its way into our waterways!

Heal the Bay along with the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors are the LA County coordinators for the cleanup events. Check out Heal the Bay’s webpage to find a location near you and help make 2010 as successful as 2009.

The ocean will thank you!

Transforming F’s to A’s – One Beach at a Time

Ah, summertime. A season filled with warm balmy nights, backyard barbecues, Little League games, and weekend trips to the beach. Each of us has favorite summer memories, and I’d venture to guess that those recollections involve a beach, river or lake – we just naturally gravitate towards water during hot months. We’ve all enjoyed that morning bike ride along Santa Monica Bay, been mesmerized by the festive sights of Echo Park Lake’s Lotus Festival, watched the kids splash in the waves at Dockweiler Beach or explored Cabrillo’s tide pools.

So what better way to say thank you to the places that have been so memorable than by creating a new summer tradition that gives back. Make the pledge, like some Sanitation employees already have, to participate in one clean-up event this summer to keep those special places clean for generations to come. It’s easy to do. There are clean-up events happening year round here in Southern California. A few hours of your time can make a positive impact on those beaches, lakes and rivers we love.

In this issue of LA Stormwater, we focus on the beaches that are so much a part of LA life this time of year. Just before Memorial Day, Heal the Bay published its annual Beach Report Card. Everyone agrees that while beach conditions are steadily improving, we still have a lot of work to do. I’m pleased to announce that this summer 71% of Los Angeles County beaches received an A grade in summer 2009. That’s a 26% jump from 2005 when only 46% of county beaches garnered the top grade.

As a part-time college professor, I know how much hard work goes into pulling up a grade. As the City’s Stormwater Program Manager, I see the tireless work that the City’s team puts into developing projects that transform beaches. One especially noteworthy project is the low-flow diversion program. Every summer day, 23 low-flow diversions along the Santa Monica Bay coastline redirect hundreds of thousands of gallons of polluted urban runoff into our sanitary sewer system for treatment. We are tackling next the pollution that flows to Santa Monica Bay during the winter months. Recent Proposition O-funded upgrades will make for eight City-owned low-flow diversions that will redirect contaminated urban runoff during dry winter days improving water quality year round.

So this summer, get out there and enjoy LA’s beautiful beaches! Because of our team work, our beaches are cleaner than they’ve been in a generation. And, with your ongoing support, our beaches will continue to improve for generations to come.

Best Regards,





Shahram Kharaghani, Stormwater Program Manager

LA’s Efforts to Transform Water Quality at Three Heal the Bay F-Grade Beaches

Today the local environmental group Heal the Bay issued its annual beach report card in time for the start of the summer beach season, providing beach goers with important water quality information. Without fail, over the last few years, Santa Ynez Beach, Castle Rock Beach and Inner Cabrillo Beach have received poor grades when it comes to their water quality.

That is about to change.

Working with regional partners including the County of Los Angeles, the Cities of El Segundo and Santa Monica and environmental groups such as Heal the Bay, the City of Los Angeles has built various structural best management practices at each of these locations to significantly improve their water quality.

There are currently 23 low-flow diversions, or structures that divert dry-weather polluted urban runoff from storm drains to the sanitary sewer system, dotting the Santa Monica Bay coastline. Using funds from Proposition O, the water quality bond measure passed in 2004, Los Angeles is in the process of upgrading eight of these diversions to handle dry weather flow year round. The upgrade of these low-flow diversions has the added benefit of ensuring the City’s compliance with federal water quality mandates related to dry weather flow. Other locations along Santa Monica Bay, most notably, Castlerock and Santa Ynez Canyon, whose low-flow diversions are owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles, have experienced recent maintenance issues. The City has been working closely with the County to resolve those challenges.

Inner Cabrillo Beach has been a bigger challenge and while the City hasn’t achieved full compliance with water quality mandates for this location yet, it is dedicated to reaching that goal. The City of Los Angeles has spent $20 million over the last seven years in projects ranging from public outreach to repairing sewer lines to the replacement of sand to improve water quality at this popular beach. Currently, the Los Angeles Harbor Department is preparing to construct a bird exclusion structure that will be completed for the 2010 summer season. Ongoing monitoring efforts are planned to determine the success of this latest water quality improvement project.

“We recognize that these three beaches have been problematic in years past but we are committed to working with our community partners to find solutions that will improve the quality of water in our rivers, lakes and beaches,” stated Enrique Zaldivar, Director of the Bureau of Sanitation. “Clean water in Los Angeles is a team effort,” continued Zaldivar.

For more information about the City’s Watershed Protection Program, please visit LAStormwater.org and join us at facebook.com/lastormwaterprogram.

April Events- Earth Day Celebrations, Garden Tours and More!

April 22 marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, so there is no better time than now to volunteer for the environment (and your community)! For more info on the following events, including time and location, please visit the embedded links or check out our calendar.

>Join us on Saturday, April 3rd for two great events. First, we'll be kicking off a native garden workday and beach clean up in San Pedro. Then it is off to Silver Lake in the afternoon where we'll attack the plastic bag problem with Heal the Bay. Be there or be square, your choice.

>If weekends aren't good for you, check out a Watershed Workshop on Tuesday, April 6th in Pasadena, where you will be able to learn and talk watershed issues in the afternoon. Then it is off to Beverly Hills on Thursday, April 8th for a fun park clean-up, sponsored by TreePeople.

>Since Earth Day falls this month, the weekends in April are packed full of volunteering opportunities. On April 10th there is a Mountain Restoration project in Topanga and then on Sunday the 11th we will be out in Malibu for a restoration project, both with TreePeople. And if native gardening and plants are your thing, check out the Theodore Payne Foundation's awesome self-guided garden tours on the 10th and 11th.

>On Saturday the 17th, come on out to Calabasas in the morning for a restoration project. The afternoon on this day also has a great event in Santa Monica in celebration of Earth Day with Heal the Bay, so come on by!

>Sunday of that same weekend is also busy. April 18th has a grand total of four events that you can participate in. TreePeople will be at it again in Malibu and Calabasas. The group will also be holding a native plants event in Beverly Hills and Heal the Bay will be in Santa Monica for a fun Earth Day celebration.

>Surfrider swims into action on April 24th with a clean-up outing in Baldwin Hills. The group won't be talking about how to catch waves, they'll be teaching you about the groovy vibes of native plants instead. TreePeople will be in Coldwater Canyon as well all day, planting some tree vegetation.

>If you are busy on Saturday the 24th, Sunday the 25th might be a better option. There is a green gardening tour in Mar Vista on the calendar that has close to 80 gardens participating with sights such as native gardens, rainwater harvesting, vegetable gardens, onsite landscape designers and more!

>Lastly, on Thursday, April 29th, TreePeople will be hosting a park work day in Beverly Hills, the last of the month. Bring your sunscreen and work boots!

Heal the Bay's Executive Director Looks Back on the Stormwater Program's 20 Years

by Mark Gold

After 20 years, the City of Los Angeles’ stormwater program is at a crossroads.

The program has come a long way since its beginnings in the early nineties as a result of the Hyperion consent decree and new regulations under the federal Clean Water Act and the first countywide stormwater permit. The City has done a superb job on stormwater education for students, businesses and the public. During the early 1990s, we worked closely with the City on our Gutter Patrol program where volunteers helped stencil tens of thousands of catch basins all over the city. Today, the City runs the program and you can’t find a catch basin in the city without a “No Dumping” stencil.

Los Angeles has led the way on clean beaches by installing about a dozen dry weather runoff diversions. I still remember the press event with Mayor Bradley for the first diversion at the Pico-Kenter stormdrain at Santa Monica Beach. Dry weather runoff diversions have transformed numerous “F” beaches on Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card into “A” beaches during the summer months. Soon, thanks to Proposition O funds for year round dry weather runoff diversions, most LA beaches will soon get “A”s for the entire year. Runoff diversions have protected the public health of millions of swimmers and helped restore the image of beautiful and safe Santa Monica Bay beaches.

Another milestone for the City was the passage of Proposition O. Over 76% of the public voted for the 500 million dollar measure to clean up our rivers, lakes, beaches and bays by reducing stormwater pollution. Proposition O is providing the capital funds needed to divert dry weather runoff, clean up Machado Lake and Echo Park Lake, capture and infiltrate runoff for local water supply in the Valley, and infiltrate stormwater in the Santa Monica Bay watershed to help clean up the Bay.

Although the pace of the projects isn’t as fast as I would have hoped, the vast majority of Proposition O projects are good projects that reduce runoff pollution and provide other benefits such as greening the City, reducing flood risk and augmenting local water supplies. Unfortunately, Proposition O only pays for building the projects themselves. The funds can not be used for operations and maintenance so the new projects are actually adding to the watershed protection programs ongoing budget difficulties.

Recently, the City has changed their approach to stormwater pollution prevention. They’ve always talked a good game on watershed protection, but in the last few years, there has been a transformation that has gone beyond calling the department the Watershed Protection Division. The division developed a Water Quality Compliance Master Plan that takes an engineering approach to linking watershed planning with water quality compliance.

The City is about to pass a far reaching Low Impact Development ordinance that will require new and redevelopment to capture and reuse or infiltrate 100% of the runoff generated from a three quarter inch storm. The ordinance will make developers, business and homeowners partners in efforts to reduce stormwater pollution and augment local water supplies by helping to create a green infrastructure in the City. I hope that the City will move forward with green streets and alleys requirements that will further the move towards Mayor Villaraigosa’s vision of making LA the cleanest, greenest major city in the country.

Finally, the City was an innovator in stormwater program funding. Back in the early 1990s, the City created a Stormwater Pollution Abatement Charge (SPAC) to pay for new programs. Unfortunately, thanks to Proposition 218, the City Council lost the ability to increase SPAC fees without a two thirds vote of the electorate. As a result, the SPAC has not been increased in nearly 20 years. The cost of the City’s stormwater and watershed protection program should be approximately $120 million a year, yet the SPAC generates less than $30 million a year. Even today’s stormwater and watershed protection programs cost the City about $60 million a year, so there the program always has to compete for general funds: an extremely difficult task in a poor economy.

Despite two decades of progress and the vision of Mayor Villaraigosa, the promise of Los Angeles’ efforts to transform into a City with a green infrastructure that protects our fundamental right to clean water is in jeopardy unless we do something to solve the funding crisis. Clean water is a necessity, a legal requirement and a right and is not something to be sacrificed during tough economic times. The challenge is, will we be bold enough to move forward on the promise and vision of a green LA with clean water, or will we maintain the status quo.

Mark Gold is president of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental organization.

Click here to view all of the articles in Issue 9 of the LA Stormwater newsletter.