$30,050 in Fines Urged for City in Sewer Spills

The director of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board on Thursday recommended fines totaling $30,050 against the city’s Bureau of Sanitation for allowing raw sewage to repeatedly overflow into Ballona Creek, which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Playa del Rey.

Robert P. Ghirelli, the board’s director, said in a letter to sanitation officials that he wants to fine the city $10,000 for each of three large spills and $50 for a fourth, much smaller overflow. Ghirelli said the fines are the maximum allowed.

The city is expected to appeal the fines at the water board’s Aug. 26 meeting.

The city had acknowledged that 72,505 gallons of sewage poured into the creek during the four incidents, which occurred last month near the south end of Jackson Avenue in Culver City. That is where an overflow gate on the city’s sewer line periodically releases waste into the concrete storm channel known as Ballona Creek.

The last reported incident came on July 26, when 35,000 gallons of sewage streamed through the gate and into the creek. County health officials immediately declared the creek and a quarter-mile section of Playa del Rey beach unsafe for swimming and wading.

Warning signs were posted along the creek and beach and lifeguards continue to advise bathers to stay away from the possibly contaminated water.

Anna Sklar, a spokeswoman for the Board of Public Works, said that after the July 26 spill, the city raised the sewage gate one foot. “The overflows have not occurred subsequent to the last spill and the gate being raised,” Sklar said Thursday.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who had urged Ghirelli to impose the fines, welcomed the action but said it did not go far enough.

“It’s not a large enough amount to correct a multimillion-dollar misbehavior by Los Angeles,” Hayden said. “They have saved a lot of money over the years by not correcting the problems.”

Water board officials have disclosed that more than 1.2 million gallons of sewage has poured into the creek during the last 10 months. Many of the spills occurred in dry weather, although the overflow gate is supposed to release waste only during floods.

Richard Rinaldi, director of environmental protection for Los Angeles County, said that tests near the mouth of the creek have shown low levels of organic contamination.

“The tests show counts (of organic waste) were at an acceptable level for bathing,” Rinaldi said. “But the (warning) postings will remain on the beach and the creek until we have a reasonable assurance that the modifications the city has built at the sewer bypass are working and watertight.”