Racetrack Fined for Dumping Animal Waste

The owners and operators of the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia were fined $150,000 Tuesday for discharging at least 15,000 gallons of animal waste and other material into a channel that flows into the Los Angeles River.

The violation was discovered when a county public works inspector, who was working on the channel, saw the discharge, videotaped it and presented it to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

“No one uses the water in these channels for drinking, but anyone who might have been swimming in some of the waterways could have been exposed to significant bacteria counts,” said the board’s executive officer, Dennis Dickerson.

The fine is the largest the board can assess against the Los Angeles Turf Club Inc. for the Aug. 31 violation, officials said.

Santa Anita Park officials could not be reached for comment. Another potential violation was videotaped by county workers Sept. 2.

“We’re looking into that situation as well as other discharges they might have had in the past,” Dickerson said. “We’re trying to determine the scope of the problem, but at this point, we’re still in the investigation stage.”

Racetrack workers are accused of discharging water that was used to rinse horses, stables and a maintenance yard into the Arcadia Wash, a concrete channel that bisects the park and flows south about three miles before reaching the Rio Hondo, which then flows into the Los Angeles River in South Gate.

“Some sections of these waterways are supposed to be protected for recreational use,” Dickerson said. “This discharge should have been collected . . . shipped for disposal and piped to a sewage treatment plant.”

The discharge was “discolored, odoriferous and contained straw, paper, mud and solid material, including manure,” according to a board report.

“This is an egregious violation,” Dickerson said. “We are asking our board to adopt a cease and desist order that will ensure similar discharges do not recur. This means putting them on a schedule to comply and ensure they will make connections to the sewer system to dispose of this type of waste.”