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Water board moves to enforce ban on trash in L.A. River: Cities along the watershed are required by 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 10, 2009 at 10:41 pm

LA River 1From the Los Angeles Times:

“Regional water quality officials on Thursday put some teeth into their long campaign to cleanse the Los Angeles River system of the tons of trash that turn it into a movable landfill after major storms.

Standards previously adopted by the Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board give cities along the watershed until 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains.

On Thursday, the board incorporated those limits into storm water permits, putting municipalities that don’t meet the requirements in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Until now there had been no penalty for noncompliance.

“It’s taken two decades to get to this point,” board vice-chair Madelyn Glickfeld said after the 5-0 vote. “If we hadn’t done this today, it would have been a signal” to cities “to relax, guys.”

During storms, tons of trash and plastic debris wash up in municipal drains that empty into the Los Angeles River and its tributaries. The trash floating at the river’s mouth in Long Beach can be so thick that it is hard to see any water. In the unusually wet winter of 2005, Long Beach hauled more than 12,000 tons of garbage out of the river. … “

Read more from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here.

Picture of LA River after storm by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

December 10, 2009 · Filed Under Stormwater & Urban Runoff

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