Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 235
Monday, December 10, 2001 Page A-11
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Water Pollution
Limits for Trash Proposed by U.S. EPA To Curb Litter Problem in Los Angeles
Rivers
LOS ANGELES--Federal regulators have proposed pollution limits to tackle
trash problems plaguing the Los Angeles River and Ballona Creek watersheds.
Called total maximum daily loads, or TMDLs, the draft standards mirror those the
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board issued nearly a year ago and
re-adopted Sept. 19 to give the regulated community some flexibility in
implementing the limits (22 DEN A-2, 2/1/01).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Dec. 5 that it is intervening in
the process because state officials are not expected to approve the TMDLs in
time for the federal government to comply with a March 2002 court-ordered
deadline. TMDLs are allocated levels of a pollutant designed to bring an
impaired water body into attainment with water quality standards.
A 1999 consent decree between environmental groups and EPA requires the TMDLs be
final by March 22 (Heal the Bay v. Browner, N.D. Cal., No. C98-04825-SBA,
1/20/99; 14 DEN A-1, 1/22/99).
Eventually, the California Water Resources Control Board will issue more
prescriptive TMDLs that will supercede EPA's limits.
Zero Discharge Limit
Like the trash TMDLs set by regional officials, EPA's draft limits also call for
the total elimination of all discharges to the Los Angeles River, Ballona Creek,
and their tributaries. The numeric target is "zero" trash in the water.
Trash is a major problem for both watersheds, according to regional regulators.
Studies showed that about 5,500 tons of trash washes out of the Los Angeles
River onto the shore in Long Beach every year.
Plastic containers, aluminum cans, paper, food waste, animal feces, and plastic
bags are just some of the garbage that finds its way into the river either
through runoff from roadways or dumping. The garbage is a breeding ground for
bacteria that is harmful to people, wildlife, and aquatic life.
If made final, the TMDLs would require the California Department of
Transportation and cities that maintain storm and road drainage systems to
implement a variety of measures to keep the systems free of trash. Costly
high-tech filters or screens and other systems to capture trash would be
necessary.
Specifically, the cities and Caltrans would have to monitor trash for the first
two years to establish baseline data. Steadily declining trash reduction
requirements would be phased in over the next 10 years.
Municipal Opposition
City officials throughout the region remain opposed to the zero limits,
contending that such a TMDL cannot be scientifically justified and that
compliance costs would be crippling.
Officials at a Nov. 14 meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies said one problem with the trash TMDL is not only how to meet the
standard, but that EPA has no data on the assimilative capacity of the water
body for trash nor any standard for translating narrative criteria into a number
(219 DEN A-12, 11/15/01).
EPA, however, has backed the regional board's plan from the beginning.
The Los Angeles River is a predominately concrete-lined waterway that flows 51
miles from the western end of the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean.
Ballona Creek, which is entirely lined in concrete, flows slightly over 10 miles
from an area south of Hancock Park in Los Angeles, through Culver City and into
the ocean at Playa del Rey.
The major source of trash in the waterways is litter discarded or blown into
drainage areas and then washed through the systems during and after rainstorms.
EPA's announcement kicks off a public comment period on the draft TMDLs that
will run through Jan. 15, 2002.
A copy of the proposal is available at http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/tmdl on
the World Wide Web.
By Carolyn Whetzel