***Note change of date. Please re-send your RSVP***
Join LABS and Senior Attorney David Beckman for a discussion of triple bottom line solutions that address regional stormwater from an inclusive perspective. Attendees will be challenged to consider rainfall as a potential local resource in Los Angeles’ arid, urban environment. David will highlight a report on which NRDC and the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara collaborated that may contribute local water supply benefits through specific control of runoff with tie-in’s to green infrastructure.
When: Thursday, September 24, 2010
11:30 am – mixer
12:00 pm – lunch
12:30 pm – presentation
Where: World Cafe
2820 Main Street,
Santa Monica, CA
Cost: CWEA Members – $30
Non-Members – $40
See event flyer for more details
The new leader of Southern California Association of Publically Owned Treatment Works (SCAP) is LABS member Enrique Zaldivar, PE, Director of the Bureau of Sanitation for the City of Los Angeles.
California beaches violated water quality standards fewer times than usual last year. That’s a key finding of a national report the Natural Resources Defense Council released this morning. The conclusion isn’t as good as it may sound.
Beaches in the Golden State tested dirty less often than before – particularly in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties – because testers sampled for bacteria at state beaches less often than before. “It’s really a case of ‘what you don’t look for, you don’t find,’” says Noah Garrison, a lawyer for the NRDC.
He adds that the culprit is a shrunken state budget. “We’re simply monitoring the beaches less. Often that’s in the wintertime, but that’s still a concern because people really visit the beaches year-round in California,” he says.
Ventura County cut sampling in the winter and spring; Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties saw around 60 percent drops in frequency. Some beaches Orange County used to test daily were tested weekly; overall Orange County’s testing dropped by a quarter. Los Angeles County recorded a 38% drop – not as bad as it could have been, Garrison said, mainly because regional water regulators have required sampling as a top priority.
In winter months, stormwater sends bacteria into the ocean as rainfall carries more pollutants into drains. But even in summer months, Garrison says water quality wasn’t necessarily improving. “During summer months the percent of samples that did not meet bacterial health standards for L.A. County and for Orange County remained about the same as it was in 2008, or in many cases actually was worse,” Garrison says.
The NRDC report points out that known sources of contamination at California beaches are a tiny fraction of the total. Unknown sources make up three-quarters of reported contamination; “no data” counts for 13 percent more. That could be stormwater, or sewage; nobody knows.
Some of the dirtiest beaches are the usual suspects: Surfrider Beach in Malibu, Santa Monica State Beach near the pier, Cabrillo Beach, Newport Bay. Garrison says beaches popular with tourists and locals are vital to the coastal and state economy. “To be allowing them to become a public health threat where not enough monitoring is done so people don’t know whether the beach they’re swimming at is safe for them to be in the water at, we really can’t continue that practice and hope that our economy will continue to thrive,” he says.
Federal stimulus money has followed this logic. In Hermosa Beach, the Environmental Protection Agency gave the city 1-and-a-third million dollars to reduce and clean stormwater runoff at Pier Street. The project includes a greywater component; wastewater will be recycled to feed plants in a pedestrian park at the area.
To learn more about the NRDC report, please join us on September 16 for a LABS luncheon with Senior Attorney David Beckman from the NRDC for a discussion of triple bottom line solutions that address regional stormwater from an inclusive perspective.
1st Place – Gimmicks & Gadgets – The Nocardia Foam Catcher
Larry Lemire, Charles Harris, Marcos Alvarez & Phil Ackman, LACSD
1st Place, Ops Challenge
LA Wrecking Crew
Preeti Ghuman, LACSD P3S Person of the Year
Joseph Petchuk, City of Santa Monica
Public Education Person of the Year
Michael Simpson, City of Los Angeles
Research Achievement
County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Combining UV & Chlorination for Disinfection of Wastewater Effluents & Recycled Water
Safety, Large Plant
County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
Sludge Trudge
Wendy Wert, LACSD, 1st Place Individual Category
Senate pro-tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) with Bring Back the Beach host Julia Louis Dreyfus (credit: Derek Goes, Heal the Bay)
The environmental group Heal the Bay held their annual Bring Back the Beach bash on the beach in Santa Monica last month. Over 900 people attended and helped raise funds for the organization which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
CWEA member and AECOM US Group Executive President Jack Baylis was honored with the Dorthy Green Award during the awards ceremony. The late Mrs. Green is one of the group’s founders. Mr. Baylis has served on Heal the Bay’s Board for several years as well as on their science and engineering committee. The Walt Disney Company was also honored for their environmental dedication.
Senator Steinberg announced during the event his full support for AB-1998 – a statewide ban on single use plastic bags – wrote Heal the Bay Executive Director Mark Gold on his Spouting Off blog.
LABS Director
Dinner meeting attendees, on the right is Hala Titus, Black & Veatch, center, Adel Hagekhail, City of Los Angeles
The American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE) presents the Excellence in Environmental Engineering Awards Luncheon & Conference Wednesday on April 28th from 11:30 to 4:45 p.m., at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
In addition to honoring excellence in state-of-the-art environmental engineering practice and research among Consulting Firms, Public Agencies, and Universities, AAEE will recognize four distinguished members:
- Rao Surampalli, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, Gordon Maskew Fair Award
- Stephen R. Maguin, P.E., BCEE, Edward J. Cleary Award
- Michael W. Selna, P.E., BCEE, Stanley E. Kappe Award
- George R. Crombie, Honorary Member
See Flyer for more information on how to register.
Urban Water Research Center at the University of California, Irvine
Spring Seminar 2010: 3rd Annual Dorothy Green Memorial Lecture Series
presents:
WOMEN IN WATER
“A New Water Ethic for the 21st Century”
Featuring Keynote Speaker
Celeste Cantú General Manager, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority
Followed by a panel discussion with professional women in water‐related fields
When: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 5:30‐7:00 pm; light reception follows
Where: Beckman Center, 100 Academy, Irvine (adjacent to UCI campus)
There is no charge for this program but reservations are encouraged.
See flyer for more information.
Oil may make more headlines, but water is the world’s most indispensable resource, and a dwindling one. Water has powered the rise of the empires of Rome and medieval China, spurred the golden age of Islam and the rise of Europe, fueled the Industrial Revolution and the American century. Today, its scarcity spawns genocide, epidemic diseases and the collapse of states across parts of Africa and Asia; it threatens to ignite new wars in the bone-dry Middle East; its faltering supplies imperil the rise of China and India. Its smart management — and a major rethinking of domestic and foreign policy — could give water-wealthy Western democracies an opportunity to grab global leadership. What should we do about water?
Who:
Journalist Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization, visits Zócalo to trace the history of water from ancient times to our dawning age of scarcity.
When: MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010, 7:00 PM
Where: The RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA
Click here for more details and to RSVP.
Join us for dinner and presentation from Adel Hagekhalil, Assistant Director with the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation. He is responsible for the Bureau’s wastewater collection system management, storm water and watershed protection program, water quality and TMDL compliance, and facilities and advance planning.
