Local water agencies are making decisions that will chart Southern California's course in addressing its No. 1 water pollution problem--polluted urban runoff--for most of the rest of the decade. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board on Dec. 13 approved a strong new federal Clean Water Act permit to control polluted runoff.
Now all eyes are on Orange County. On Friday, after delaying its vote for more than a month, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a new runoff permit for the northern half of the county. Later this month, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board will vote on a plan to cover southern Orange County.
The unusual convergence of all of these permitting actions during December and January makes this an important moment for a region grappling with how to reduce billions of gallons of polluted runoff, most of which is discharged to the ocean without any treatment.
These regulatory decisions determine how frequently beaches will be closed to swimmers and whether runoff will be allowed to be acutely toxic to marine life, as studies show it often is today. And they play a central role in supporting, or undermining, recreational and tourist economies interconnected with the beach lifestyle for which Southern California is world famous. Economists tell us that tourism related to our beaches contributes billions of dollars a year to the local economy--a good-enough reason alone to step up efforts to protect water quality.
The Clean Water Act permits at issue contain requirements that must be implemented by cities to reduce toxic runoff for a five-year period expiring in early 2007. The permits are best thought of as "blueprints" for pollution reduction. They contain a set of programs ranging from educational efforts targeting the public to technical specifications for new pollution-reducing features in large development projects.
As a consequence, the stringency--or weakness--of the terms of each permit can and will mean the difference between success and failure in keeping beaches open and waters safe for people and marine life.
Overall, the proposed new permits are a mixed lot. The good news is that the Los Angeles board, with jurisdiction over Ventura and Los Angeles counties, approved a strong plan that is a significant improvement in many respects over its 1996 effort, one that environmentalists and some board staff consider a near-total failure.
