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An extensive review of the last 8 years worth of toxicity reports filed to the Water Quality Control Board has shown a pattern of oversight and lack of enforcement for violations to wastewater dischargers, according to Heal the Bay.
The function of the State Water Board is to allocate water rights, adjudicate water right disputes, develop water protection pans, and establish water quality standards that set allowable concentrations of pollutants. The Regional Water Board is seen as the front line defense for state pollution control efforts. However, the findings by Heal the Bay indicate that neither have been doing their jobs.
As part of the Los Angeles Basin Plan specific objectives for toxicity have been set. The plan indicates that all waters “shall be maintained free of toxic substances in concentrations that are toxic to, or that produce detrimental physiological responses in human, plant, animal or aquatic life.” This is also a regulation of the Clean Water Act, therefore toxic discharges are illegal of the federal and state level.
Under state law, water dischargers, such as sewage treatment facilities and other industry, are required to obtain permits prior to dumping water. A condition of that permit is that the holder is mandated to test for toxic substances in their discharge on a regular basis and measure the combined effects of these pollutants on living test organisms.
On repeated sample analyses, performed by the various dischargers, has shown that their effluent (the liquid waste) is toxic to aquatic life. In fact, during the 8 year time period, “there were 819 chronic and 68 acute instances of toxic water discharge or ‘exceedances’, and there were 408 chronic and 64 acute instances of toxicity among all receiving water testing stations.”
Of those instances, only 80 notices of violation were issued by the Regional Board. Of those 80, only 11 had accompanying enforcement penalty. This essentially sends a message that the maintaining clean waters is a voluntary compliance program.
“Although Heal the Bay only examined the records for the Los Angeles region, we believe that the local situation is just the tip of the iceberg on the magnitude of the toxicity problem in California,” said Charlotte Stevenson, a Heal the Bay staff scientist who served as the study’s lead author. “The vague guidance from the State Board has allowed toxicity to be present for years without anyone being held truly accountable, and the consequences can likely be seen in rivers and streams throughout the state.”
The LA Times was able to talk to Jonathan Bishop, chief deputy officer of the State Water Resources Control Board, who did concede that more “precise, numeric standards were needed and said his agency was moving to adopt them in the coming year.
Many would argue is that soon enough. When we are seeing pelicans dying en masse and pollution contaminated fish, many think it may be too little, too late.
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I don't understand how this is okay? How is it that public officials are being paid money from OUR tax dollars and they aren't watching out for OUR interests or well being? Instead of reading passively on web sites, you people need to get involved and start demanding accountability from your elected officials... Period!
This is the kind of news LAist needs to report on more often... discussion about matters that are relevant and effect our lives.
Strangely, the report answers its own question. Let us suppose that a sewage treatment plant is discharging water that fails the WET but all of the individual chemicals are below the effluent limits. There is no excess ammonia or zinc but it still causes more than 90% of the fat head minnows? What do the treatment plant operators do? There is no "de-toxicity" treatment process to add, there is no magical chemical to add that makes the fat heads minnows survive longer, there is no industrial discharger up-stream to cite. What then is the point of fining the publicly owned sewage treatment plant? The only reason fines are issued is to force a dischrager to make process changes to come into compliance. If there are no process changes that can be made that will solve the problem, then fine are being assessed for no reason. The point is to solve the problem, not just collect fines. That is the actual point.