‘PROHIBITION ZONE’ FEVER GRIPS MALIBU

If you have lived in Los Osos for at least the past five years, the following account may echo with a darkly familiar ring:

“Hundreds attended Thursday’s 10-hour hearing, which included passionate testimonies for or against the septic ban from environmental group leaders, surfers, Los Angeles County officials, local developers and wastewater experts, among others.”

This from a Nov. 11 Malibu Times article under the headline: “Water board bans septics in Malibu.”

According to the article, the RWQCB’s Malibu prohibition means “an end to future permitting of septic systems in the commercial areas of the Civic Center and the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway from Serra Road to Sweetwater Canyon, as well as the residential areas of Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Serra Retreat, Sweetwater Mesa and the Malibu Knolls.”

Malibuites will soon discover more than they ever wanted to know about Los Osos, as the posh, pastoral city by the sea takes sides.

“Ignoring ardent pleas from Malibu residents and an alternative waste water management plan proposed by city officials, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board last Thursday voted 5-2 to ban septic systems in central and eastern Malibu,” reported the Malibu Times.

“Ignoring ardent pleas from… residents … and an alternative waste water management plan?” It’s a different town but same story line. It’s called “The Sewer Scam!”

Alleged Pollution
“The board’s staff recommended the ban due to its assessment that septic systems are the major cause of pollution in Malibu's watershed,” continued the article. “The decision has infuriated many Malibu citizens and city officials, who say the board's staff report was based on outdated evidence from the 1980s and ’90s.”

The Malibu prohibition is based on alleged pollution based on “outdated evidence”? Did somebody fall asleep on the ditto button…again? And not a mention of any other polluters, such as surface runoff.

 “Advocates said enacting a septic ban, regardless of the financial impacts, was the only way to ensure that the city would work toward improving the water quality of Malibu Lagoon, Malibu Creek and Surfrider Beach, which has been continually ranked as one of the most polluted beaches in the state,” the article reported.

A recent city-funded water quality tests indicated that only a small percentage of the overall pollution in the Malibu watershed is attributable to human waste. But Jeff Ogata, staff counsel for the regional board, refused to include the evidence at the hearing “because they were submitted after the Oct. 8 deadline for public comments on the staff report.”

Many residents who spoke at the hearing said they were not rich and couldn’t afford the monthly cost of a centralized sewer plant. “We cannot afford to have another $500 added every month,” said Steve Ryan, a Malibu resident who lives outside the prohibition zone. “You can't possibly say that every septic system in that area in Malibu doesn't work. You're taking everyone who lives in that area, lining them up against the wall and shooting them without a trial. That's not fair, it's not moral, it's not ethical. People have the right to prove they're not polluting, and you're not giving us that right.”

That’s right, Mr. Ryan. That’s exactly what they did in Los Osos. Line them up against the “prohibition zone” wall and shoot them. But at least in Los Osos they give them a trial first, a fake show trial based simply on the part of town you live in (“Do you live in the ‘Prohibition Zone,’ yes or no?” “Do you use a septic tank on that property, yes or no?”) -- without experts or scientific testimony. It’s the RWQCB’s burden of responsibility to prove an individual homeowner is polluting, not the homeowner’s responsibility to prove they’re not.

Unfortunately, just prior to the Thursday vote, the board removed the “no discharge” exemption from the prohibition, meaning that even if a homeowner is not polluting they must still hook up to and pay for the central sewer. Reason: political. The RWQCB wants to maintain maximum pressure on homeowners for a community solution. Obviously, the RWQCB does not include morality and ethics in its decision-making process, only how it can threaten you with fines and force you to vote “yes” on the Proposition 218 vote, which is flagrant electioneering, which by law they are not supposed to do.

Possible Litigation
The Malibu Times reported that the State Water Resources Control Board “must still approve the septic ban before it can be enacted.” So the LARWQCB is running ahead of the SWRCB, which still hasn’t approved the septic ban [AB 885]. According to the article, the city says it won’t sue the State Water Board “until a final decision is made.”

Current commercial septics must be phased out by 2015 and residential septics by 2019. That includes projects in progress or previously permitted to install septic systems. Phase-out deadlines still must be met or non-compliers face fines up to $10,000 per day or $100 per gallon of wastewater discharged, the article reported.

In the parallel universe of Los Osos, the CCRWQCB threatened homeowners in the Prohibition Zone with loss of the use of their homes and $10,000 a day in fines if they didn't vote to tax themselves for an overpriced, central sewer without any proof of pollution from septic tanks. The townspeople have been so tortured by the RWQCB’s abuse of power that it has directly affected the health of many in the community; people have had strokes, gotten divorced, and a few have died from the constant stress and harassment. (The regional water boards are comprised of unelected government appointees accountable only to the Governor.)

The RWQCB’s Malibu plan, according to the newspaper report, calls for 425 parcels to pay “between $400 and $500 per month” and 45 business parcels between $6,800 and $17,000 per month, to finance an estimated $52 million centralized wastewater treatment facility capable of treating 600,000 gallons per day.”

Funding the project requires a two-thirds vote, Malibu Councilmember Andy Stern told the Malibu Times. “If the vote doesn't pass, there's no money to do it. Then what happens? Is the regional board going to tell everyone to get out of their houses? There is little doubt in my mind this will wind up in litigation.”

Los Osos didn’t get the two-thirds vote, though they should have since the sewer is a general and not special benefit. Using outdated data and rejecting new data that contradicts the basis for their ruling, the RWQCB claims that Malibu septic tanks have polluted the ocean. In addition, they want some residents in Malibu to be taxed to clean the ocean when everyone benefits from a clean ocean -- and so there is no special benefit for a Proposition 218 tax.

Scam of the Century
The article cited a comment made last year in La Canada by a RWQCB staff geologist who “warned attendees that resistance against forming a sewer district could result in the board issuing ‘a cease and desist order for every house in town.’”

By creating “prohibition zones” to outlaw septics, the RWQCB is paving the way for large centralized collection and treatment – permitting no acceptable system in between. In Malibu the SWRCB offers more evidence of government’s unholy marriage to heavy industry (MWH et al) and its town-by-town campaign to gain control of water from private property, treat it for re-use – and sell it for profit.

At the same time they clean the water, they cleanse the town of any homeowner who can’t afford to pay $500 a month to flush their toilets in Malibu, bringing in only those who can.

To put it simply, the LARWQCB is forcing some residents pay for developers to be able to build in Malibu. The water boards work hand in hand with developers and large companies like MWH to ensure maximum contracts that benefit the government/industry axis.

The costs for this project and the development that follows building central sewers are passed off on to taxpayers and ratepayers in the form of layers of new taxes, potentially limitless monthly fees and charges, and higher water rates.

It’s the biggest government scam against the people of California in this century. It’s a juggernaut with momentum and, without broad community support in Malibu, may be impossible to stop anywhere in the state.

Original reporting by Olivia Damavandi, Assistant Editor, The Malibu Times.