Backers of Malibu septic ban rode wave of surfers' testimony
Fri 06 Nov 2009
Tide pools at Malibu's Surfrider Beach. Surfers and environmentalists have for years blamed septic tanks as a chief cause of ocean water pollution. Thursday, the regional water board voted to ban new septic systems, ending a long battle in the city.
One after another, surfers young and older trooped to the microphone to recount their encounters with the polluted waves off Malibu's Surfrider Beach.
They told of bouts of diarrhea, conjunctivitis that wouldn't heal and heart-damaging Coxsackie B4 virus. Some talked of inhaling the pervasive Malibu stench and watching raw sewage pour through the city's streets and parking lots.
In the end, the testimony of the surfers helped carry the day Thursday for supporters of a ban on new septic systems in the vibrant commercial heart of one of Southern California's most exclusive enclaves.
Under the prohibition, no new septic systems will be allowed and owners of existing commercial and residential systems will have to halt discharges within the next decade.
Given that Malibu formed its own city government in 1991 to avoid what it viewed as a scheme by Los Angeles County to install sewers and unleash a wave of development, the decision Thursday marked a turning of the tide.
The years-long battle over water quality in Malibu has been a strange collision of slow-growth advocates who viewed septic tanks and leach pits as a check against rapid development and surfers and environmentalists who contended the systems were fouling the city's groundwater and, by extension, Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and Santa Monica Bay.
They told of bouts of diarrhea, conjunctivitis that wouldn't heal and heart-damaging Coxsackie B4 virus. Some talked of inhaling the pervasive Malibu stench and watching raw sewage pour through the city's streets and parking lots.
In the end, the testimony of the surfers helped carry the day Thursday for supporters of a ban on new septic systems in the vibrant commercial heart of one of Southern California's most exclusive enclaves.
Under the prohibition, no new septic systems will be allowed and owners of existing commercial and residential systems will have to halt discharges within the next decade.
Given that Malibu formed its own city government in 1991 to avoid what it viewed as a scheme by Los Angeles County to install sewers and unleash a wave of development, the decision Thursday marked a turning of the tide.
The years-long battle over water quality in Malibu has been a strange collision of slow-growth advocates who viewed septic tanks and leach pits as a check against rapid development and surfers and environmentalists who contended the systems were fouling the city's groundwater and, by extension, Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and Santa Monica Bay.
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