Records Show No Recent Discharge From Tapia, Despite Rumor of Release

Records show the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility has not discharged treated wastewater since April into the Malibu Creek, which empties into the Malibu Lagoon.

The facility, which is part of the Las Virgenes Water District, has not released water since April 26, according to a data sheet. (See the attached PDF to the right)

The flow of water can impact the levels in the Malibu Lagoon, which is currently under construction as part of a restoration project. Tapia currently treats about 9.5 million gallons of wastewater a day, according to the LVWD website.

Activist Marcia Hanscom, who is an opponent of the project, spoke to the Malibu City Council meeting Monday night asking the city to investigate rumors that Tapia may have been involved in the separating the Malibu Lagoon from the ocean on Saturday night.

California State Parks, which is the lead agency on the project, has said it has been unable to determine if the berm was opened naturally or by human hand.

Hanscom said that a Malibu resident told her in a message that Tapia had released water into the Malibu Creek on Sunday.  

“This is a resident of Malibu who said, a neighbor spoke to a guy today from the Parks Department and was told scientists figured out with the high tide, they could flush the lagoon hydraulically. I put these in quotations because those are the words the Park guy used,” Hanscom said while reading from her cell phone. “He said Tapia discharged last night. That they basically can pull a switch and raise the water level by several feet. He was a high level person for Parks, speaking to a contractor who has been around Malibu since the 60s. So he presumably felt comfortable saying this.”

“I really think this needs to be investigated,” Hanscom concluded.

In an interview on Tuesday, Hanscom said she was not stating facts when she read the message from a friend, and that she could not release the person's name without permission.

"She was told these things by her neighbor who allegedly got the info from a state parks official. I never represented that these were "facts" - but said it needed to be investigated," Hanscom said.

She said the breach still needs to be looked into.

"All leads need to be investigated until we find out who did the illegal breach of the sand berm," Hanscom said.