Malibu Residents Mad as Hornets Over Swarms of Tiny Flies

The flies are biting in Malibu. But the sting may soon be felt in Calabasas.

Residents of a wealthy Malibu Canyon enclave said Monday they plan to sue a Calabasas sewage plant to halt runoff they claim is breeding black flies in their neighborhood.

Homeowners complain they cannot step outside homes near the famed Malibu Lagoon without being attacked by flies.

“They mostly bite you on the elbows and ears. They’re clever little fellows,” said Christian Whittaker, who says the insects have forced him to abandon use of the swimming pool at the $2-million home he built this year.

“I don’t go outside unless I’m fully dressed,” said Whittaker. He said he is demanding that the water district buy his home unless it quits dumping about 1 million gallons a day of treated sewage effluent into Malibu Creek.

Neighbors George C. Scott, Charles Bronson and Michelle Triola Marvin Van Dyke have also been affected and may join in the lawsuit, said Whittaker, a clothing manufacturer.

Van Dyke, known for her palimony suit against the late actor Lee Marvin, has been bitten on the right hand and right ear. One of the bites forced her to seek medical treatment, according to a neighborhood-produced “Black Fly Report” filed with the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which runs the sewage plant.

The report urged residents to kill attacking flies, tape the “carcasses” to the report and send them to the water district.

“I’ve got two new bites on my head. I’m going to the doctor tomorrow,” Van Dyke said Monday.

Talk of the fly lawsuit had the Las Virgenes district headquarters in Calabasas buzzing Monday.

Sewage plant operators denied their water is to blame. “These aren’t flies of the effluent. They’re flies of the affluent,” said one district official.

They said a report finished last week by a fly expert from UC Riverside showed flies are thriving at several creeks in the Santa Monica Mountains--including streams that do not receive runoff from their Tapia Sewage Treatment Plant.

The $10,000 fly study, conducted between April and August by entomologist Mir S. Mulla, discovered the presence of nine species of black flies that lay eggs on damp or water-covered rocks. The flies are smaller than common house flies.

Only one of the nine types-- Simulium vittatum-- bites humans, said James Colbaugh, who is in charge of Tapia Plant operations for the water district.

Colbaugh said the sewage waste water is filtered before it is released to percolating ponds next to Malibu Creek. The water is then naturally filtered through sandstone before it seeps into the creek and is used to replenish downstream habitats for steelhead trout, he said.

The fly problem was dismissed Monday by Los Angeles County officials, who say they have controlled the insects with a larvicide.

A microbial control agent called Bti has been effective, said Jean Kovaltchouk, an entomologist for the Los Angeles County West Mosquito Abatement District. “We believe there’s 99% control. We don’t see adult flies out there now. We don’t get bitten,” Kovaltchouk said.

Not so, said lawyer John B. Murdoch, who has drafted the planned lawsuit being reviewed by residents of the 80-home neighborhood. “It’s a severe discomfort. We’re asking a cessation of the nuisance.”

If the suit doesn’t work, authorities may have to call out the swat team.