Speakers Avoid Mudslinging at Malibu Water Forum

The Malibu Water Quality Conference’s primary goal on Saturday was to explore ways to prevent water pollution from fouling the coastline.

The secondary goal was to be polite.

“This is honestly the first time that these people have been able to get into a room together and not almost come to blows,” said David Nahai, a member of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and one of the organizers of the event at Pepperdine University.

The 10 speakers agreed that there’s a serious problem off Malibu’s shore, the contamination has many sources and the resulting muck is disgusting.

Although no concrete solutions were adopted, the organizers said the meeting was successful because there was no yelling. Civility prevailed.

How bad is the water? Enough sometimes to sicken surfers with eye and stomach infections -- among other woes -- and harm wildlife, said Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay, based in Santa Monica.

Yet, Gold added, “it’s really time to stop pointing fingers and time to start looking in the mirror.... We’re all the problem.”

Among the problems discussed was urban runoff from cities as distant as Agoura Hills and Calabasas; water fouled by horse and dog droppings; lead, mercury and selenium pollution; and pollution from septic tanks in the city of Malibu, which does not have a sewer system.

Tracy Egoscue, executive director of Santa Monica BayKeeper, showed a slide to the audience of an illegal pipe that her organization found in the Malibu area that was dumping laundry water from a home onto the beach.

Below the pipe was a big pile of suds. “Everyone there said it smelled like Downy,” she said, referring to the fabric softener. She said there were dozens of other pipes like it in the area.

Not surprisingly, there was disagreement over potential fixes. Suggestions included tighter constraints on growth, encouraging people to use fewer fertilizers and pesticides and getting Malibu residents to either flush less or build better septic units.

Several dozen Malibu residents attended the meeting. But not everyone thought merely getting along with one another was good enough.

“Everyone’s awareness” of pollution “is much higher today than it was 30 years ago,” said Tony Shafer, 65, who has lived in Malibu for three decades. “The problem is that for the last 20 years we’ve been talking about it and studying it while there’s a lot of simple solutions we can do.”

Citing the presentation over the illegal pipes, Shafer said a good start would be to shut down one each week until they’re all gone.

After the meeting, Katie Lichtig, city manager of Malibu, said she understands some residents’ frustration that too little is happening.

But she also said that in the past there were few productive discussions over water quality; instead, there were arguments at City Council meetings and other similar functions.

“I think something like today is intended to get everyone on the same page,” Lichtig said. “If you get everybody on the same page, you get closer and closer to a solution.”