SANTA MONICA—As a means to improve current water safety standards and environmental efforts, a new project is being implemented to divert water from the Santa Monica Pier into drainage systems to prevent water pollution.
According to the Santa Monica Public Works, a division of the City of Santa Monica which assists with the enhancement of public infrastructure, The Clean Beach Project will take place at the SM pier and Pico-Kenter regions, near the city’s shorelines. The project will help to improve beach quality as well as increase drought resiliency in the area.
Joe Karkoski, member of the State Water Resources Control Board tells Canyon News that State Water Board solicited proposals for grants using Proposition 84 funding, which would Improve beach water quality. Therefore, this decision is not based on the effects of El Niño, which immediately took place in early January, but rather a proposal of concepts developed by the City of Santa Monica.
Concrete sub-grade storm water runoff storage tanks will be placed north of the pier and beneath the Deauville Parking lot, located next to the pier. Prefabricated and smaller storm water runoff storage tanks will be placed at the Pico-Kenter outfall pump station drainage basin.
Key benefits of the project will include cleaner water for local beaches, The project will also divert 1.6 million gallons of runoff from drainage basins, away from Santa Monica Pier.
Tanks will be utilized to harvest runoff from Pier and Kenter basins. Any additional runoff will be harvested and diverted at the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility( SMURRF), for non potable uses, such as toilet flushing and irrigation, Rick Valte, Principal Civil Engineer for the City of Santa Monica tells Canyon News.
Any additional overflow will then be transported to a sanitary sewer system.
Out of $5.2 million that will fund the project, $37 million funded will be allocated from the State Labor Water Resources Control Board’s Clean Beaches Initiative as well as the Santa Monica Clean Beaches and Ocean Parcel Tax, which will fund the remainder of the project.
The Clean Beach Project is already underway, which started in late 2015. The estimated date of completion is projected for November 30, 2017. During the wet season of 2017 through 2018, coastal water quality will be monitored periodically as a means to measure the effectiveness of the project, according to Karkoski. Once the project is built, it will help to impede future droughts.
