Prognosis Good for Seaside Lagoon

The water quality prognosis for is good, staff told the Redondo Beach City Council during a meeting Oct. 18.

The popular manmade saltwater pond in the Redondo Beach Marina has been plagued by water-quality issues over the past several years.  The facility takes in ocean water, chlorinates it, then discharges the water back into the harbor after dechlorination.

The discharged water often has more suspended solids in it than the intake water. The amount of total suspended solids (TSS) from 2002 until 2008 triggered potential fines of more than $150,000.

In her presentation to the council, Maggie Healy, an assistant to the city manager, explained how Mayor Mike Gin, Councilman Steven Diels and city staff met with Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, representatives of Heal the Bay and representatives of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board at the end of May.

The city authorized a study funded by the LARWQCB to measure the amount of suspended solids in the water over the summer. The study discovered that the TSS were consistently below 40 milligrams per liter—a number "significantly below" the state-mandated limit of 75 milligrams per liter, according to Healey—while the metals content was "almost nonexistent," she said.

The tests were conducted by two different laboratories using a split sample, Healy said.

"That was all good news," she said.

Moving forward, the city has set a TSS trigger point of 30 milligrams per liter. If the number exceeds that, city staff will notify the LARWQCB, which will perform parallel testing, Healy said.

The city still does not know where the suspended solids are coming from, though staff strongly believe they are naturally occurring, according to Healy.

"We still have no way of controlling spikes that have occurred in the past, so we asked [the LARWQCB] to look at some way of waiving the limit or changing the limit or giving us some kind of waiver that would allow us to do additional testing when we do see spikes," Healy said.

The council voted unanimously to receive and file Healy's report.