Suing to Clean Up our Most Polluted Waterways

over three decades of using TMdl's to enforce the clean water act

september 1, 2022

“Not that long ago, Los Angeles County did not have clear rules to protect our most polluted waterways and to hold companies and agencies accountable for the contaminants that were dumped there. It took a lawsuit to make the legally required standards a reality. LA Waterkeeper didn’t stop at a legal win and went on to create a program that continues to monitor compliance from known polluters and push agencies to do what it takes to protect the bay and harbor.”

— Felicia Marcus, former head of US EPA Region IX (Pacific Southwest) and former Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board

More than three decades ago, a landmark lawsuit filed by LA Waterkeeper and Heal the Bay spurred the creation of the TMDL program, one of the biggest drivers of clean water projects in California. However, half of our waters are still considered impaired by pollution, and deregulation and lack of enforcement threaten to disempower this landmark piece of legislation. Our future depends on restoring, enforcing, and defending the Clean Water Act in the decades to come. How did we get to where we are, and how can we continue to push for better water quality for all of Los Angeles?

Since its passing 50 years ago, the Clean Water Act has helped make U.S. waterways more drinkable, swimmable, and fishable by regulating water pollution. Under this act, states must identify which bodies of water are failing to achieve federal water quality standards. They must then develop restoration plans to ensure that these waterways achieve ecological health and safely support recreational activities.  These restoration plans are known as Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), as they set maximum allowable limits for various pollutants. 

  Despite the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the requirements to adopt these cleanup plans were almost totally ignored for nearly two decades. As late as 1998, no TMDLs had been adopted in LA County, and there were only a handful of TMDLs set statewide in response to litigation. The lack of established standards meant communities and nonprofits had little power to hold polluters accountable for continuing to pollute the region’s waterways.

Dominguez Channel is waterway with a long legacy of pollution that impacts surrounding residents. LA Waterkeeper is pushing the Los Angeles Regional Water Board to bring the channel into compliance with water quality standards as quickly as possible.

In 1998, LA Waterkeeper and Heal the Bay sued US EPA for the agency’s failure to adopt cleanup plans for polluted water bodies in LA and Ventura Counties as required by the Clean Water Act. The resulting settlement in 1999 created a roadmap for California and the U.S. EPA to clean up 210 impaired waterbody segments. Over the following 13 years, TMDLs were established for the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Clara Rivers, Malibu and Ballona Creeks, and 25 beaches. Some of the pollutants required to be cleaned up included bacteria, metals, trash, nutrients, chlordane, ammonia, and “forever chemicals” like DDT and PCBs that were banned more than 30 years ago.

TMDLs are one of the most impactful tools to compel decision-makers to take clean water laws seriously. The TMDL program has already prompted the investment of billions of dollars into cleaning up LA’s rivers, creeks and coastal waters. It is projected that over the next two decades, TMDLs will spur an additional $24 billion toward clean water projects and create an estimated 141,000 new jobs. Our lawsuit has been credited with spurring similar lawsuits statewide and forcing the adoption of a robust statewide water quality monitoring and cleanup program.

Our TMDL lawsuit highlights the precedent-setting results that can be achieved through litigation. Still, laws and regulations only work when they are enforced. Despite many TMDLs being adopted nearly 3 decades ago, progress has been painfully slow in actually getting our most polluted waterways into Clean Water Act compliance. Over community objections, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has been granting lengthy extensions to deadlines, without accountability mechanisms.

We need all our supporters to contact the Los Angeles Regional Water Board now and let them know that delaying TMDL deadlines is NOT an option. Environmental justice delayed is environmental justice denied, and our regulatory officials must understand that now, 50 years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, it is time to deliver on its promise of clean water for all.

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For more information on the impact of LA Waterkeeper’s lawsuits on the health of the region’s waterways and communities, check out our Litigation = Impact report.