A Good Week for a Bay at Risk : County accord helps, but vigilance by all is needed

The new resolve by Los Angeles County to address the long-standing problem of storm runoff fouling the Santa Monica Bay is welcome indeed. The county is among the last governmental entities to own up to its responsibility toward the bay. Yet neither the county nor the many other cities and state agencies are the only ones responsible for the problem. The real task ahead for environmentalists and local officials is to convince individuals and businesses that their vigilance is essential if cleanup efforts, now under way, are to succeed.

L.A. County supervisors unanimously agreed last week to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a prominent environmental group alleging that the county has failed to control storm water polluting the bay. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit two years ago accusing the county of violating the federal Clean Water Act by failing to develop a storm water monitoring program and failing to study the effects of pollution on Santa Monica Bay. The new settlement binds the county to identify the type and source of pollutants flowing into the bay through storm drains and flood control channels. The county also agreed to finance a broad-based advertising campaign to educate residents and businesses on the need to keep trash and pollutants out of storm drains.

This provision is key to real progress. Local residents must understand that when they hose down their sidewalks, loading docks and auto garages they are sending rubbish and chemicals directly into the ocean. They must also take steps to dispose of such materials without inadvertently dumping them into the ocean. Those steps, such as sweeping rather than hosing sidewalks, will inevitably be more time-consuming and often more costly.

But the need is clear. The county’s decision to settle followed by a few days the release of a new report on the grim status of 28 fragile bay and coastal areas around the United States. Researchers from the American Oceans Campaign singled out Santa Monica Bay for special concern. The toxins, pathogens and debris flowing into the bay put at risk the local multibillion-dollar tourist industry and the millions spent to date to clean up and restore these waters.

Continued federal and local funding for restoration and pollution control are clearly necessary. But the bay’s problems are not government’s alone to solve. Pico storm drain empties onto Santa Monica Beach.