Malibu picks sewers over smell

 

The Malibu septic-tank-versus-sewers issue has finally been settled after years of debate, according to "Septic tanks on their way out in Malibu" at latimes.com. The timeline:

New septic systems will not be permitted in Malibu, and owners of existing systems will have to halt wastewater discharges within a decade.

What it'll cost homeowners:

Residents in affected areas would be required to pay about $500 a month to cover the cost of hooking into a central sewage system, according to the city's projections. And businesses would face payments of up to $20,000 a month.

Wow. $500 a month? Some historical perspective:

In many ways, the septic tanks played a large role in Malibu becoming a city. It incorporated and formed its own government in 1991 to stave off Los Angeles County's efforts to install a sewer system in the area. Residents at the time feared sewers would unleash a wave of development that would turn Malibu into Miami Beach West.

In Malibu, septic tanks, leach pits and the ubiquitous stench known as the "Malibu smell" are familiar topics. After rainstorms, officials often post signs on Surfrider Beach urging swimmers and surfers to steer clear because of health dangers. Surfrider often gets failing grades on Heal the Bay's annual water-quality report cards.

Just in case you thought it was all a day at the beach in Malibu.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Surfrider Beach in Malibu. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

 

Comments

[socalinvestors]

No comments for this one? How surprising. Why I continue to visit this blog is perhaps a better question.

[D]

It is an almost completely useless resource.

[Hans Laetz]

The LA Times article is rife with errors.

First off, the Water Board started the hearing with the statement that septic tanks are not being phased out in Malibu, and that old-fashioned septic tanks can work just fine in many conditions.

The Times report that "septic tanks are on their way out in Malibu" is simply not true.

Septic tanks are to be replaced along the beaches and at the Civic Center. About 75 percent of the Malibu homes will remain on septics, which are more reliable, less greenhouse-gas causing, and safer to the public than sewers.

Yes, LA Times, the 2,000-year-old technology is safer than sewers in rural areas, away from creeks and beaches, like most of the houses in Malibu.

In proper locations (like away from beaches and creeks), septic tank failures are few, far-between and very small if they happen. Such failures most often are the septic tank equivalent of a blocked sewer lines -- like the thousands of sewer spills on LA-area sewer systems that cause sewage to run into storm drains and the ocean.

Septic tanks need no electricity, are low-tech and do not transport the vast majority of their output to a centralized location. Most waste i digested int he tank, and the liquids are cleansed by microbes in the soil. Spetics do not emit water into the sea, the creek, or the surface -- with the exception of those near creeks or the beach.

Those should be banned. It is those that the Water Board is going after -- as is the City of Malibu, which has the toughest septic and sewer regulations in the state. Inspections, standards and codes are very strict in the City of Malibu, the toughest in California.

Sewers did not "win the war," which makes for a zippy lead but is not accurate. Sewers are not coming to Malibu, except for the commercial users at the lagoon.

"New septic systems will not be permitted in Malibu and owners of existing systems will have to halt wastewater discharges within a decade" says the Times. This is wholly inaccurate. The ban affects only the immediate Civic Center area.

Of course, the Times is very short on details about the plan that was adopted Thursday "on the fly." It appears from the Times' brief account that the Water Board and the City of Malibu's plans -- already very similar in cost and scope -- have been merged together, a wise act.

We don't know, because the Times went for the sensational anecdotes instead of covering what came out of the meeting.

"After rainstorms, officials often post signs on Surfrider Beach urging swimmers and surfers to steer clear because of health dangers," The Times says. Attention, Spring Street: the same is true for every beach in LA County. Surfrider is a mess, true, and septics in that immediate area are probably to fault.

The Times article could have -- with the exception of the first sentence -- been written before the meeting happened. Details about what the Water Board has ordered the City to do are left out. Perhaps that is why no one commented.

[syscom3]

I suppose now that the sewer system will be expanded, development will be inevitable.

LOL .... Malibu wanted one thing and got another.

[chemguy]

If you want to see how lengthy, costly, and convoluted this process can get, look to Los Osos, CA. It's been going on there for 30 years, and there is still no sewer built.