Rule Limits Bacteria Levels in Bay

State water officials on Thursday ordered local governments to clean up bacteria pollution streaming into Santa Monica Bay within three years so that all of its beaches are safe for swimming every day during the summer.

The new rules cover 44 beaches that stretch from the Los Angeles-Ventura County line to Outer Cabrillo Beach just south of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Adopted as a result of a federal lawsuit settlement, the rules mark the first time that state officials have clamped down on water-borne bacteria that can cause stomach and respiratory ailments in swimmers, surfers and others who come in contact with the ocean.

City and county officials also have six years to make sure no coastal waters in the bay exceed safe bacteria levels during dry winter days, under the rules passed unanimously by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The state agency on Thursday postponed the tougher task of cleaning up bacteria swept by a deluge of storm water into the ocean during rainy days. That issue will surface later this year.

Yet Thursday’s decision is expected to have perhaps the greatest practical impact on human health because summertime is when the most people wade into the surf.

“We have 55 [million] to 60 million people visiting the beaches of the Santa Monica Bay every year,” said H. David Nahai, chairman of the regional water board. “This is a significant step forward in protecting the health of the people who use the beach and swim in our coastal waters.”

The crackdown on bacteria pollution is part of a larger plan outlined in the settlement of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups Heal the Bay and Santa Monica BayKeeper. The agreement between government officials and these groups worked out a schedule to set limits on a variety of pollutants that wind up in coastal waters of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Last year, the regional board approved plans to scale back trash that is often swept by runoff into the sea. In coming months and years, it will crack down on toxic metals and chemical pollutants that harm marine life.

At this moment, the board is focused on limiting bacteria from spilled sewage, rotting vegetation and animal droppings that have made warning signs and beach closures a common occurrence on some stretches of the bay.

“Just informing the public of health hazards is clearly not enough,” said Mark Gold, director of Heal the Bay, which grades beaches in a weekly report card. “This will ensure that all of the beaches will be A-plus beaches during dry weather. That’s a huge improvement when we see a third of the beaches don’t reach A grade and there are many, many F beaches.”

For instance, Surfrider Beach in Malibu, a legendary surf spot with notoriously polluted water, will have to pass muster all summer long and will be allowed to exceed bacterial standards during only three dry days in the winter. Last year, in contrast, it exceeded such standards on 66 days, Gold said.

The rules, setting “total maximum daily loads,” do not require that all bacteria be eliminated, but rather that it be reduced to a level that the bay can absorb without being harmful to people or marine life.

“It’s not a zero level, but a safe level,” Nahai said.

These rules calculate safe levels using “indicator” bacteria--total coliform, fecal coliform and enterococci--that show up in the ocean at the end of storm drains, discharge pipes, streams and rivers.

“You’re not going to get sick off total coliform, but we know that viruses and harmful bacteria often accompany it,” said Jonathan Bishop, a manager at the regional water board.

Cleaning up such discharges, even during dry weather, is difficult because the pollutants don’t come from one source.

Instead, they are carried by what some scientists call “urban slobber.” That’s the accumulation of pet waste, rotting garbage and other contaminants that are carried by lawn sprinkler runoff, car washing and myriad other spills and flows that find their way into the storm drains and then into the surf.

Some cities, such as Santa Monica and Los Angeles, have begun to clean up these dry-weather discharges by diverting the runoff into the sewage system so it can be treated, or purified by ultraviolet light. Some of the reclaimed waste water will be used for irrigation.

Others cities raised objections to the new rules, complaining that they are too costly. A group of mostly inland cities, called the Coalition for Practical Regulation, has been opposing virtually all of the tighter pollution standards as they work their way through the approval process.

The new bacteria standards will be forwarded to Sacramento for approval by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, which oversees its regional board in Los Angeles and eight other jurisdictions. Then the standards go to the Office of Administrative Law and finally the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The EPA has already agreed to approve this in coordination with the regional boards,” said David Beckman, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Beckman, who handled the lawsuit brought by Heal the Bay and BayKeeper, said tougher bacterial standards were part of the settlement, which was approved by a federal judge.