City Urges Practicality on Seaside Lagoon

The city is urging the Regional Water Quality Control Board to take a practical approach to improving water quality—especially when it comes to Seaside Lagoon.

In its latest letter to the agency dated Aug. 30, the city requested a continuance of an Oct. 7 hearing on water discharge requirements at the seaside attraction and one year to study the presence of heavy metals in influent and effluent water at Seaside Lagoon. It said that with a temporary operating permit in effect until Sept. 10, 2013, there is no urgency to conduct the hearing now.

This letter and updates on Seaside Lagoon will be discussed at the City Council meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The city has been going back and forth with regulatory bodies over water discharge requirements since February, when it received a five-year National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit and three-year Time Schedule Order from L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board staff. The new permit included eight new metal effluent categories and imposed more restrictive limitations than the previous permit.

"As public agencies, all parties involved in the NPDES permitting process have the obligation to carry out their duties in a responsible, realistic and reasoned manner," the city letter to Mazhar Ali at the regional board states. "Requirements that tether public agencies to impractical positions are counterproductive and violate our sacred charge as representatives of the people. We urge the regional board to take practical measures in its efforts to improve water quality in the Southern California region."

The city almost did not open the lagoon this summer due to concerns about potential water quality fines. Regulators said it could be subject to up to $21 billion in fines for not meeting more stringent testing standards; at minimum, the city was told the fine would be $150,000. 

The lagoon opened for business only after regional water quality regulators relaxed water testing standards and issued a temporary permit to the facility; residents had lobbied to keep the lagoon open. Since then, the city has been testing the water coming in from the harbor.

The facility adds chlorine to the water for swimming, and then removes the chlorine before pumping the water back into the harbor. At issue are the levels of total suspended solids in the water the lagoon pumps back into the harbor. 

The city is arguing that it is unfair to hold the lagoon to the tighter standards due to the high level of solids in the water coming in from the harbor. When Patch visited the attraction last last month, parents said they would be sorry to see it close.