Working together works to bring us together. We share common cause when it comes to protecting the ocean from our daily sewage and urban runoff discharges to Laguna’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
Thanksgiving Weekend will be the anniversary of “Poopishima,” a 1.5 million gallon discharge of raw sewage directly to Laguna’s State Marine Reserve and world class surf and skim beaches. Zero Liquid Discharges to the ocean is no longer a pipe dream as it becomes a standard practice in the oil industry and advanced wastewater facilities here and abroad. When we commit to work together and modernize the Coastal Treatment Plant, we can build relationships to productively overcome our other differences. Laguna has waited since 2014’s City Resolution to address our 50-year-old deteriorating wastewater system.
Everyone from billionaires to beach bunnies, all genders and ages regardless of political affiliation in Laguna pays agencies to flush 1.87 million gallons each day of secondary sewage wastewater to an ocean we all love deeply. Our secondary sewage carries microplastics, pharmaceuticals and other contaminates to a diffuser pipe just 1.5 miles offshore forming an underwater plume, which engineers assure us, goes “away”. Yet the ocean surrounding Laguna Beach is not the “Pacific Ocean” on popular maps but actually the Gulf of Santa Catalina – an embayment of seawater holding Laguna and Southern California’s accumulated wastewater. Is this even sustainable?
A local citizen science project to find the plume and map the extent of “away” plans to collect small surface and bottom samples of seawater at Treasure Island Cove. UC Irvine will test for I-131, a common radioactive tracer in medical diagnostics that enters the wastewater system when patients urinate. Although I-131 has a half-life of five days, smaller amounts can still be detected to map the plume and the project hopes to be a simple model for more in-depth research.
The ocean provides one-half of the air for us to breathe. Seawater evaporation forms clouds to deliver rain to quench our thirst and irrigate food crops. Healthy sea life feeds us with seafood. Sea surface temperatures determine the nation’s climate.
Planning now to gain funding for wastewater infrastructure will place Laguna front and center for a flood of massive federal funding now looming on the horizon. Smart local leaders, innovative citizen scientists and leading “green” engineers can contribute to guide us forward. Let’s come together to work together to make Laguna a proud leader in protecting the ocean Bluebelt we deeply love.
Mike Beanan, Laguna Beach
