As if you needed another reason to stay out of Long Beach’s ocean waters, a sewage spill all the way up in Glendale found its way into the Los Angeles River which, of course, finds its way into the Long Beach Harbor. It is just the latest example of Long Beach’s problems with eroding water quality ratings, lack of ocean water circulation, and pollutants from the LA River.
Were the LA River a natural, meandering, soil-based waterway, pollutants from more than 20 miles away would have been absorbed into the land and not allowed to travel such a great distance. But since the river runs a nearly straight dash to Long Beach and 47 of its 51 miles are composed of concrete, the sewage faces an unobstructive, downhill route to the ocean—the pollution equivalent of putting sewage on rollerblades and pushing it down Hill Street.
Sadly, Long Beach faces the possibility of more warnings like this in the future. The Army Corps of Engineers (“That’s never a good way to start a sentence,” said a friend when I told him the story) last week designated only two portions of the LA River as a “traditionally navigable waterway.” On its own, the ruling has little effect. But the California Water Act allows certain protections to TNW’s, and with only two sections of the river deemed TNW, environmental groups worry that the River may lose vital protections from dumping, worsening the waters in the LA River and Long Beach ocean.
“The Army Corps’ decision is very disappointing,” said a release from Fran Diamond, Chair of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. The City of Los Angeles has flourished because of the River. We should all be working together to protect it. The Regional Board will use its authority to ensure that the River’s promise is realized for present and future generations.”
Nonprofit organization Friends of the LA River met with other groups including the Water Quality Control Board and National Resources Defense Council on Tuesday night to discuss possible reactions. The initial ruling was met with disgust, though Army Corps Deputy Chief of Public Affairs Dan Calderon assured me that the worries are premature.
“The river has always been considered a navigable waterway,” he says. “We’ve just deemed that two sections of it are ‘traditionally navigable waterways.’ The protections are the same as they always were.”
Shelly Backlar from Friends of the LA River worries that while the river itself may be protected, the streams and tributaries that flow into the non-traditional navigable waterways will lose protection from chemical and pollutant dumping.
“If you cant control pollution flowing into streams and tributaries, then youll have a difficult time controlling pollution in the river,” Backlar says. “From our perspective, this decision is inconsistent with Corps responsibilities, with the Clean Water Act and with restoration plans.
“Without question this is a step in the wrong direction.”
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor