PLATFORM : Sewage Runoff

Heavy rain has been generating water levels that our waste disposal systems can’t handle. Los Angeles County sanitation engineers do their best with the resources available, but they don’t have adequate control of toxic industrial sewage. Sewage is supposed to be processed at a treatment plant. However, excess water causes emergency-bypass situations and that means untreated, unprocessed waste is sent straight to the ocean.

Toxic discharges reduce the reproductive capacity of fish. The toxic-waste discharge is also harming bird populations and kelp.

The sewage runoff is leading to an aesthetic deterioration along our coast. It’s also creating a public-health problem, because humans can also be infected by organisms carried by sewage.

The county can comply with federal clean-water standards by building additional sewage-treatment facilities.