City of Laguna Beach: Is "Don't Test, Don't Tell" Enviro-Stewardship?

Ocean Water Quality Updates Reveal Claims vs. Reality Disparities

Imagine a world where doctors didn't test you for any acute or chronic illnesses, or communicable, perhaps life-threatening diseases? That you ignored annual physicals let alone blood and urine panels, for yourself or your family?

You wouldn't have to tell your family that you have something debilitating, maybe cancer, or inform your co-workers that you have something highly contagious. Just whistle blissfully through the graveyard of non-disclosure?

What if you found out that your own city was committed to not testing for ocean water quality stressors and their significant impacts though told to make it ongoing and agreed to do so?

Intentionally withholds the negative fall-out of what pitiful results they do have, plus hides the nasty deluge of letters from jurisdictional agency legal counsel demanding long overdue answers?

Or your city has been caught red-handed but stuck in denial? The sword of enforcement hovering for refusing to comply with explicit regulations ensuring your family's health if they snorkel, swim, skim or surf in the Pacific?

Transparency in government should be important to all because the adverse impacts, those "devil in the details" often have not only grievous fiscal but ecological impacts. Government should burden itself with informing its constituents: "Don't test, don't tell" is a way of life, SOP here in Laguna, has been on my entire 27 year watch.

Ignorance has consequences, there are ramifications and at times regulatory oversight agency repercussions if community-based volunteer organization aren't hyper-vigilant and figure out what exactly is being cloaked.

Our upper echelon staff, legal counsel and elected officials rarely reveal that we're in deep doo-doo with the Coastal Commission, Cal or USEPA, OSHA, AQMD, etc.. Our indiscretions, stern warnings and blatant transgressions are often buried and can't be observed: Unacknowledged sins and lies of omission.

So it's down to what our general population was never informed about, what we don't know that can harm us.

There is a repetitive thread or theme: The County, the coastal water districts and the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES---MS4) Stormwater co-permittee coastal cities have a 100% bogus reputation, propped up by PR flacks hired to provide cover.

Laguna is a leader alright: The most glaring SOC scofflaw regarding ocean water quality impairments and refusal to monitor what it knows is mass-contamination.

Testing via monitoring at dozens of outfalls, grab sampling and analyses during both dry (non-rainy) and rainy periods fall under our agreed-upon permit systems. Without them, there's no way to assess our progress or lack thereof deficiencies.

You'd think that we were in Heaven and the liars who portray themselves as stellar environmental stewards with immaculate reputations are in fact and deed just bald-faced frauds. San Diego has begun telling them so, Clean Water Now (CWN) has waged war, a tireless marathon of siege, our allegations finally sustained.

Our efforts looked at today as seeds of doubt are finally bearing fruit, the recent perfect storm of wastewater overflow transgressions amplified by our decades of distressed complaints, petitions and presentations, hours of staff interface have suddenly found fertile soil in San Diego.

Which I bet you, if a resident of Laguna, haven't heard a word about, have you? Notices of NPDES violations (NOVs), failures to test/monitor ocean outfall discharges per the NPDES, file legally mandated, verifiable reports in a timely manner (some not at all), inquiries into the veracity of sewer spill reports (amounts excreted into the ocean and resulting ecological damages to marine life), when were those publicly disclosed?

The litany of complaints and citations by the San Diego staff these past 6 months is mind-boggling. And I'm happy to boast that CWN, through a series of complaints going back to last year have found resonance, helping to pull back the curtain, unmask the hypocrisy of enviro-stewardship claims.

Kudos and props, much mahalos to Penny Elia of the Sierra Club and Michael Beanan of South Laguna Civic Association. Perennial whistleblowers, like CWN, they too have been trying to get San Diego's close attention regarding these issues for decades as well. Staff time budgeting down there is difficult to acquire, let's face it, we live in a complaint-driven world. The outcry, the outrage seems to have hit a peak that their staff can no longer ignore?

The South OC Wastewater Authority (SOCWA) has been a nexus for some, a cross-roads for a lot of Laguna public official hocus-pocus. Once the investigations by multiple staff in San Diego began spreading into separate internal divisions there (Cal EPA Region 9), more scrutiny has led to more revelations---and the specter of gross sum, deserved sanctions and punishment.

As they dig deeper, San Diego staff are definitely becoming a lot more skeptical, suspicious and distrusting of Laguna Beach. We've made sustained, documented allegations that call into question not only coastal agency/municipal MS4 reporting veracity.

We've also alleged fraudulent filings of sewage spill reports that could have criminal and civil court ramifications for those who affixed their signatures as responsible parties.

We believe that Laguna and SOCWA not only intentionally under-reported the volumes that reached our coastal streams and/or ocean waters but used a local greenwashing biologist vendor for nearly 20 years who has never noted ANY adverse effects, says impacts to stream and marine species were "negligible."

In Laguna Beach, these sanctions and notices of deficiencies regarding monitoring, water quality sampling and failure to file mountains of required reports culled from the data collected should have been revealed to us, shouldn't they?

Readers, any of you hear our staff, Council or City Attorney announce that on December 15, 2023 all of the South OC stormwater permittees were hit with a NOV, Laguna the most prominent of the chastised cities?

Laguna, holding a long swath of hard fought Marine Life Protection Area status since 2012 the most egregious agency?

Then in February a nasty exchange of legal bitterness regarding our 9 year lapse in reporting for an Area of Biological Significance (Heisler Park). Last report was in 2015.

We're bleeding defense money via our legal counsel, Best Best & Krieger, who in typical convoluted rationale, endless exchanges with SWRCB Counsel are milking the cow (our coffers) in their billing.

Both are in essence functions of federally mandated USEPA requisites. Each state then develops its own version. California tries to keep sewage and storm drain water isolated from each other except only under the most extreme circumstances: Hence MS4.

What exactly is a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)?
"An MS4 includes the conveyance or system of conveyances designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water that is not a combined sewer or part of a publicly owned treatment works.

It includes roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains.

These drainage systems typically dump (discharge) their water (and any associated pollutants) directly into streams, bays, and/or the ocean."

What are the basic requirements of the storm water program?
"Storm water management programs must include measures to:

• Identify major outfalls and pollutant loadings;
• Detect and eliminate all non-storm water discharges to the system, except as specifically exempted;
• Prevent and reduce pollutants in runoff from industrial, commercial, and residential areas through the implementation of BMPs (Best Management Practices);
• Control storm water discharges from new development and redevelopment;
• Inspect industrial, commercial, and construction activities;
• Provide pertinent education and promote public reporting of pollution;
• Monitor discharges and impacts on receiving waters."

Does the MS4 Permit prohibit activities at my house or business?
"The MS4 permit prohibits most discharges into and from MS4s that cause or threaten to cause water pollution. Storm water discharges of pollutants must be reduced to the maximum extent practicable (MEP), and most non-storm water discharges are not allowed.

Activities that generate pollutants must be performed in a way so as to keep the runoff from entering the storm drains."

Take away: Identify major contributing storm drain system contaminant candidates and their ocean outfall discharge points; closely monitor and test them; which leads to detection; which leads to reduction and prevention; which leads to source control; which leads to the eventual elimination of contributing pollutant-loading factors.

Our city leadership has failed us. We can't brag that we're environmental stewards when we obviously fall short and are in fact culpable. We're guilty of abuse that's being kept hidden from our own residents plus maintain a false and deceptive image for our tourism industry as well.

If the city had tested thoroughly, compliantly, and it became obvious how highly polluted our shoreline is, there'd be bacterial warning signs posted everywhere, some beaches even closed indefinitely, attractive nuisances that included physical immersion or exposure restraints.

Main Beach and Aliso are obviously top suspects due to sheer volume of drainage discharges but keep in mind that's it's not just the high Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) concentrations which pose threats to human health.

Those with under-developed immune systems (like children) or compromised ones (ill and/or senile) are more vulnerable segments.

The known gamut, the long laundry list of metals and chemicals that jeopardize, which create toxic levels of urban runoff soup means dozens of these discharge outfalls "spread the wealth" along our near-tidal coastline.

Sewer spills for instance convey everything that you pour down your drain on a daily basis, not just fecal matter. Even a little rainfall purges our storm drain systems, transports and deposits substances too numerous to list onto our beach sand, into our ocean.

These substances can be carcinogenic (cause cancer), mutagenic (cause mutations, abnormal tissue growth) or teratogenic (cause birth defects), not limited to humans but all animal life forms.

Water quality sampling (testing) results if performed and then disclosed per law are critical, yet classic under-performing Laguna keeps shirking its public health and safety duties by deceit.

"Don't Inspect, Don't Tell"

Been walking, biking or driving through those billowing clouds of dust along PCH lately, due to massive construction projects that started last Fall? It's not just Caltrans or their contractors either. Some of the mess is from our Public Works Department and Water District.

According to Cal Trans, it might be another year or so to complete their work, so (literally) don't hold your breath. Unfortunately, our marine habitat populations don't have that option, they're swimming in this toxic brew, trying to propagate and survive, outlast the acute (immediate/short term) and chronic (long term) effects.

Driving you get the rattle of asphalt, concrete and other coarse detritus in your wheel wells. Walking or biking you can observe up close what's been ultimately during our El Niño downpours sloughing off into our MS4. Winding up on our strands and into our precious ocean, in blatant violation of our permit.

Seen any City inspectors birddogging and ensuring protection compliance? Aggressive street sweeping? Whatever happened to our Environmental Compliance Officer position once Michael Phillips retired.

"Only rain down the drain" as they say, isn't anyone at City Hall (staff or officials) curious, wondering where all of those toxic contaminants are headed? Who in the Hell is providing fastidious oversight, minding the pollutant discharge store these past 6 months?

Is it safe to go in the ocean? With "fiduciary" (ho ho ho) guardians like our sterling leadership apparently not, it's like "Jaws Meets Apocalypse Now" at City Hall: They nod and say that it is, but look how much this and other critical information activists uncover that they keep from their own residents?

Don't YOU wonder what else they're hiding?

What else they're legally bound to do yet don't?

This is also posted at Laguna Beach Chat, an excellent source for local issues: https://lagunabeachchat.com/roger-butow/

If any of my readers want the SDRWQCB reports, exchanges by attorneys and/or CWN's complaint filings, feel free to write to me and I'll gladly provide the docs: rogerbutow@clean-water-now.org