LA County Official Comments on Heal the Bay Beach Report Card

 

 

LA County Official Comments on Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card

Spokesman for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District available for comment on the state of water quality along the LA County coastline.

 

QUOTE ATTRIBUTABLE TO MARK PESTRELLA, ASSISTANT DEPUTY DIRECTOR, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

“We applaud these efforts to educate the public about their role in protecting regional water quality,” says Mark Pestrella, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. “We’re also very pleased to see that the operations of the Flood Control District continue to play an important role in protecting our county coastline. Our Marie Canyon facility in Malibu has removed Puerco Beach from the list of ‘Beach Bummers’ for the first time in three years. Low-flow diversions protect Santa Monica Bay beaches by redirecting urban runoff away from the coast for treatment, and Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey is now getting an “A” grade because of special devices that circulate its surface waters. The Flood Control District has the technology and expertise; our biggest challenge is long-term water quality funding to keep these types of operations on-going.”

 

ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT

The Los Angeles County Flood Control District maintains 487 miles of open channel, 2,919 miles of underground storm drain and 79,957 catch basins. The Flood Control District’s stormwater program is developed under the oversight of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the state agency that is responsible for overseeing these programs, and is undertaken in partnership with the cities at the beaches and in the watersheds. The Flood Control District’s stormwater program includes multifaceted public education efforts, such as stenciling storm drains and airing public service announcements, as well as extensive structural improvements, such as devices to exclude trash from entering into the streams and waterbodies and low-flow stormwater diversion devices at the beaches. Visit lawatersheds.org for more information.

 

Contact: Kerjon Lee

Public Affairs Manager, Watershed Management Division
County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works

Office: (626) 458-4348

Mobile: (626) 476-0533

kelee@dpw.lacounty.gov