Water Quality

POLLUTANTS AND THEIR IMPACTS
Population growth and development have had serious consequences for Santa Monica Bay. As the number of humans living and working in the watershed has grown, the amount of waste products and pollutants has multiplied. Hundreds of known pollutants exist in the urban environment and many enter the Bay on a regular basis. Our research suggests that there are 19 pollutants of immediate concern in Santa Monica Bay. These Pollutants of Concern (POC) include toxic organic compounds, heavy metals, pathogens, nutrients/sediments, and trash/debris, among others.

Around the Bay, the negative impacts that these pollutants have on water quality are apparent. Historic discharges of DDT and PCBs have accumulated in Bay sediments and caused contamination of some seafood species. Popular swimming beaches are posted with warnings due to high pathogen levels found near storm drain outlets. Tons of trash are washed from city streets into the Bay during each storm, littering beaches and harming marine life. These are but a few examples of pollutant impacts on Santa Monica Bay. Finding solutions to these problems requires that we understand where these pollutants come from (sources), how they reach the Bay (pathways), and how they impact Bay resources.

SOURCES AND PATHWAYS
Contaminants that enter the Bay may originate on land, in the air, or at sea outside of the Bay itself. Although the sources of pollutants are numerous and disparate, they are ultimately the product of all the people who live, work, and play in the region. Countless human activities - the way we manage our households, care for our cars, manufacture and consume products - directly influence the amount and types of pollutants that enter the Bay.

The effects of these activities are transmitted to the Bay via numerous pathways - runoff into creeks and storm drains, municipal wastewater treatment, industrial discharges, boating and shipping activities, aerial fallout, dredging, ocean dumping, and advection to name a few.

Urban and storm water runoff, carried to the Bay through the region's massive storm drain systems and few remaining streams, is a serious, year-round concern. Each year, an average of 30 billion gallons of storm water and urban runoff are discharged through more than 200 outlets. Even in dry weather, ten to 25 million gallons of water flow through storm drains into Santa Monica Bay every day.

Runoff flows over rooftops, parking lots, freeways, construction sites, industrial facilities, and other impervious surfaces, picking up pollutants and transporting them through open channels and underground pipes directly to the Bay. Because the region's 5,000-mile network of storm drains was built to convey flood waters to the ocean as quickly as possible, all wet-weather flow and most dry-weather flow bypasses wastewater treatment facilities and discharges directly to the Bay.

Because the quality of sewage discharges from municipal wastewater treatment facilities has improved, the relative contribution of storm water and urban runoff to the total pollutant load to the Bay has increased. In addition, storm water and urban runoff are the major sources of pollutants such as trash and pathogens entering the Bay.

The adverse impacts of storm water and urban runoff on water quality have been well documented, thanks to the efforts of the SMBRP. The Project's landmark 1995 epidemiological study provided, for the first time, indisputable scientific evidence linking health risks with swimming in urban runoff-contaminated waters. Storm water toxicity studies performed by the SMBRP, UCLA, and the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) have also discovered that urban runoff and storm water are toxic to marine organisms.

Outfalls for municipal wastewater discharges, power plant cooling water discharges, and industrial waste effluent are generally referred to as point sources. There are seven major point source facilities in the Santa Monica Bay watershed: three municipal wastewater treatment plants, three coastal generating stations, and one oil refinery. In addition, over 160 smaller commercial and industrial facilities discharge non-process wastewater into storm drains that flow to the Bay.

Municipal wastewater facilities receive waste from domestic, commercial, and industrial sources. The wastewater is collected by an extensive network of main and feeder sewers and carried to central treatment plants where it undergoes various levels of treatment. The region's municipal treatment plants provide service to over seven million people in portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The City of Los Angeles Hyperion Treatment Plant and the County Sanitation Districts' Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) discharge treated wastewater directly into Santa Monica Bay. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District's Tapia Water Reclamation Facility periodically discharges tertiary-treated wastewater into the Bay via Malibu Creek. Combined, about 645 million gallons of treated wastewater are discharged to Santa Monica Bay each day.

Historically, both the Hyperion and JWPCP plants discharged large amounts of pollutants into the Bay, resulting in impairments of the Bay's habitats. Until 1972, the JWPCP outfall discharged extremely high levels of DDT due to the disposal of DDT process waste into the sewage system. Since 1971, there has been a steady decrease in the mass loading of most contaminants from the two wastewater facilities due to better source control, improved chemical treatment, and an increasing use of secondary treatment. Since the early 1970s, the loading of seven heavy metals has decreased by between 67 and 99 percent and the loading of total suspended solids has decreased by more than 80% As a result, impaired ocean bottom habitat near the discharge outfalls has shown signs of recovery.

The Bay's water quality is also impacted by pollutant loading from nonpoint sources.

Marine debris and beach litter kills marine wildlife, damages the Bay's aesthetic qualities, and is expensive for coastal communities to clean up. Items like fishing line and six-pack rings can entangle marine animals. Once entangled, animals have trouble eating, breathing or swimming, all of which can have fatal results. Birds, fish and mammals often mistake plastic for food. With plastic filling their stomachs, animals have a false feeling of being full, and may die of starvation. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, one of their favorite foods. Even gray whales have been found dead with plastic bags and sheeting in their stomachs.

Beachgoers can cut themselves on glass and metal left on the beach. Marine debris also endangers the safety and livelihood of fishermen and recreational boaters. Nets and monofilament fishing line can obstruct propellers and plastic sheeting and bags can block cooling intakes.

Over 4,000 tons of trash is collected from Bay beaches annually and a 1994 survey found that one-quarter of the ocean bottom surveyed contained man-made materials.

Boating-related activities can contribute a host of contaminants. Antifouling paint, used on boat hulls, can contain copper, zinc, chromium, lead, and trace amounts of mercury. Other contaminants associated with boating include arsenic, PCBs, TBT, sewage, fish wastes, wash water, and trash. For more information on boating practices visit our Boater Education page.

Pollutants emitted by automobiles and industrial operations in the region also contribute pollutant loading to the Bay via aerial fallout. A study completed by the SMBRP, UCLA, and SCCWRP in 2001 found that aerial deposition could be a significant source of total mass loading for zinc, copper, and lead to the Bay.

Spills of oil and other hazardous materials occur every year in the Bay and its watershed, each with the potential for serious impacts on water quality and marine resources. Finally, pollutants can enter the Bay through dumping of dredged materials and advection - movement of pollutants from outside into the Bay via ocean currents.

SOLUTIONS
Reducing pollutant loads to the Bay is one of the key goals of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Plan. The Plan emphasizes preventing pollution at the source, pollution reduction targeted to specific areas and sources, and the remediation of historical contamination.

Many cities, agencies, and environmental groups are implementing pollution prevention programs in order to educate and assist the public, business, and industry about ways to reduce pollutants associated with their daily activities. Examples include:

Household hazardous waste collection programs conducted by the City and County of Los Angeles
Used oil recycling programs operated by the County, partnered with local service stations/auto parts stores
Programs that promote pollution prevention for small businesses
Public education programs through inter-agency and public-private partnerships
Annual Coastal Cleanup and Adopt-a-Beach/Creek programs
Boating pollution prevention and boater education programs

The Bay's wastewater treatment facilities continue to reduce pollutant loads from their discharges, which for many years were the largest contributors of pollution to the Bay. In 1998, the City of Los Angeles' Hyperion Treatment Plant completed an upgrade to full secondary treatment of sewage discharge. A similar upgrade at the County Sanitation District Joint Water Pollution Control Plant will be completed by the end of 2002. Both the City of Los Angeles and the County Sanitation District have also implemented pretreatment programs to reduce the amount of pollutants discharged from commercial facilities into the sewer system. Expansion of reclaimed water projects has decreased the need for imported water and helped reduce the volume of wastewater discharged to the Bay.

Storm water and urban runoff are regulated through municipal, industrial, and construction National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Mandated by Congress under the Clean Water Act, the NPDES Storm Water Program is a comprehensive national program for addressing sources of storm water discharges that adversely affect the quality of our waters. The Program uses NPDES permits to require the implementation of controls designed to prevent harmful pollutants from being washed by storm water runoff into local water bodies. Permit holders are required to develop and implement Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans or Storm Water Management Programs using Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce or prevent the discharge of pollutants into receiving waters.

Because pollutants found in runoff originate from an array of activities, many different approaches are taken to address the issues. Examples include:

Structural Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as dry-weather runoff diversion, installation of in-stream trash capture devices, catchbasin retrofits, installation of filtration devices along roadways or in parking lots, etc.
Non-structural BMPs such as catchbasin stenciling, enhanced catchbasin/trash can cleanings, and street sweeping
Public education and outreach
Enhanced storm drain inspection
Implementation of programs that eliminate illicit connection and illegal discharge to the storm drains
Promotion and enforced implementation of BMPs at industrial facilities and construction sites
Implementation of new land use practices to increase on-site storm water infiltration and to reduce erosion
Enaction and enforcement of local ordinances that prohibit activities that contribute to storm water pollution, such as illegal disposal, dumping or washing of waste (from domestic animal, restaurants, automobile, etc.) into the storm drain system.

Finally, in order to protect human health and the environment, specific "hot spots" caused by historic contamination are targeted for cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has conducted a pilot program to "cap" contaminated sediments with clean sediment in DDT/PCB contaminated areas of the Palos Verdes shelf. Evaluation of the pilot caps will be conducted to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a large-scale capping project. In addition, the U.S. EPA and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board are developing a TMDL that includes a program to remediate another contaminated sediment "hot spot" in Marina del Rey Harbor.