
A plan to address copper pollution in Marina del Rey calls for dredging some 400 acres of harbor bottom
By Pat Reynolds
On a recent weekday morning in a small public meeting room in Marina del Rey, about two dozen residents heard representatives of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board introduce a proposal that could affect millions.
The issue before the Small Craft Harbor Commission: water pollution in the harbor.
According to the state board’s Los Angeles office, the waters of Marina del Rey are on their way to becoming too toxic an environment to sustain many of the organisms that inhabit it. In a 56-page report, the agency details an array of water quality concerns and several scenarios for cleaning up the area — but none was more jarring than a proposal to dredge the entire Marina del Rey harbor at a potential cost of more than $200 million.
But let’s back up.
The report details myriad ecological issues that exist in the harbor, which is essentially a parking lot for boats. There is data on zinc contamination, PCBs and increased levels of DDT, but the main and most pressing thrust was the amount of copper, a biocide, detected throughout the harbor’s water column.
There’s no mystery surrounding where this copper is coming from — the bottoms of nearly all boats in Marina del Rey are coated with a copper-based paint of one kind or another. Monthly boat cleanings with abrasive scrubbing tools release tiny particles of copper from the hull and into the environment.
How serious of a problem this really is and how to solve it is where factions and frictions begin to emerge. Last month the state board sent a one-page bulletin to boaters proposing a switch to alternative paints, saying they were working with the paint industry to supply “effective options.” But boaters argue that there are currently few acceptable alternatives to copper paint and virtually no effective ones. Some involve costly preparations and are deemed not nearly as effective as copper. All are projected to be expensive for boat owners — an additional cost as high as $8,000 per boat, according to some estimates.
“As of today, there are no viable non-biocide [paints] available for use in Marina del Rey,” says Greg Schem, who owns The Boatyard in Marina del Rey.
Even though he could make a lot of money repainting boats, Schem spoke up about the lack of feasible paint alternatives during the Dec. 11 meeting.
“It’s ironic, because this could be a windfall for the boatyards,” Schem says. “We’d be required to do all this work … [and] $8,000 times 5,000 boats is $40 million, but the fact is we have to do what’s right. If we’re all boaters and in this for the long haul, this is not the right way to approach it. We have to be more rational.”
Also controversial were the state board’s proposals for cleaning up the existing problem — sediment capping, dredging or a combination of the two.
Sediment capping, according to the report, means “to cover contaminated sediment by a layer of clean sediment, clay, gravel or other material.” But capping is only workable under certain circumstances and “is most effective in large, deep water bodies,” which the marina is not.
So dredging seems to be the more effective option, but a full-scale dredging of Marina del Rey for environmental purposes was a jaw-dropper for many in attendance.
The type of dredging that’s proposed is hydraulic dredging, which is a much different process than the mechanical dredging done last year at the main entrance of the harbor for navigational purposes. Instead of an enormous crane and barge, the dredge involves equipment about the size of a mid-sized boat that basically vacuums the bottom.
Though less intrusive than a more conventional dredge, the process is still quite expensive and complex.
Gary Jones, acting director of the Dept. of Beaches and Harbors, said dredging the roughly 400 acres of water in the harbor was cause for great concern.
“I’m sure that the reality of such a project would see a cost far in excess [of $200 million],” Jones said. “With regards to marketability, our fear is that if it is less attractive and more costly to moor your boat in Marina del Rey, then we will see vacancies increase. That will have an effect on not only county revenue but also the revenue of our lessees, the marina operators.”
The state board has set a pretty lofty goal for cleaning up the harbor. They hope to achieve an 85% reduction in copper levels by March 2024. A similar dredging took place at Shelter Island in San Diego, where those efforts achieved a reduction of only 10% in seven years.
Schem and others said the 10-year timetable is far too short, considering the lack of established alternatives for boaters.
The state board representatives also took heat for offering a short window for public comment. As of now, residents have a Jan. 15 deadline to weigh in about the proposed dredging.
“The reconsideration document is extremely technical and full of information which has been studied for a long time by the board,” Schem wrote in comments about the situation. “Given the scientific complexity of the issue, a more reasonable time for public review and scientific analysis [should] be at least six months.”
So here we sit. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board has deemed the water in Marina del Rey toxic and harmful to the sea life that inhabits it. The culprit is the paint that exists on nearly every boat in the harbor. The dilemma and challenge at hand is finding the most reasonable and cost-effective way to make a substantial and lasting change.
For information about the study, visit waterboards.ca.gov/losangeles/water_issues/programs/tmdl/tmdl_list.shtml.
To get your comments on the official record, email losangeles@waterboards.ca.gov by 5 p.m. on Jan. 15. The email subject line must read “Comment Letter – Marina del Rey Harbor Toxics TMDL Reconsideration.”
Pat Reynolds is editor and publisher of The Mariner magazine.
The complaint about copper paint is a mountain out of a molehill. Just like the scare tactics of the Fukashima radiation fake messages about it being here in the states. This too is a fake problem. This is not a natural flowing waterway. This is a man made harbor. This was made for the benefits to the residents in Southern California Residents. Marina del Rey, California is a financial benefit to the County and the only real access point to Santa Monica bay. A beautiful place to go out onto the waters of the Pacific. This is not a problem.
This is a excuse to Suck the life out of it and enrich someone and Flush millions of $$$$ down the toilet for no good reason.
This is a red haring to detract the people from other things that can be useful. Who is actually driving this insanity plan.
Think about all the oil wells that used to be in this swampland. What chemicals where deposited then. Think about taking all the mud from the bottom of Marina Del Rey and placing them on the side of Billona Wetlands to dry. Who wants to live down wind of that? Think about all the dredging soils stackled next to Billona Creek to build Marina Del Rey. How about a test for copper and other mettle’s in that soil for a base line before you make people spend Thousands to scrape the bottom of their boats for no benefit. Or is this a payback for not being rich enough to not care. Or some sorry plot to drive many out of boating as this cost will force most of the small boaters to leave Marina Del Rey or quit boating all together.
The down side is whopping big price and No useful end result. Just like the DDT and Montrose Super fund site off of PV. Over time it may be best to leave is alone.
Same for MDR bottom sludge. Leave it where it is. Fish are doing just fine in Marina Del Rey. We should know. We have one of the MOST successful aquaculture fish raising pens in Marina Del Rey. My fishing club Marina Del Rey Anglers has raised nearly 90,000 baby white seabass in our pens at Burton Chase Park. Of all the fish rearing pens up and down Southern California we have the lowest die off rates. Hubbs Sea World supplies us the fish. Their numbers do not lie. Growing healthy fish in Marina Del Rey is proof that we do not need to move this copper from the bottom of the harbor.
This is a false problem.
Where is a good old fashioned reporter to research to find who is making this a problem when there is none.
Marina Del Rey was desighned as a Small boat harbor, for recreation and reffuge for the distressed mairnor ./ not a sancuarry for wild life, like all harbors San pedro , Wilmington ,
Sandiago, San fran and menny more , Iff you are going to target Del Rey you must target all
harbors .
This was tried years ago and failed , mean while ahgain the study is comming out of the pockets of the tax payers,
I heard about a mechanical boatwasher,
It washes the boats in-water, so you don’t need to apply and re-apply paint in the first place.
googled a link http://www.boatwashnow.com
Nice try Albin,
Obviously not aware of the level of the stuff that grows in the saltwater around here. Not easy to remove. It is not like a dirty car. This stuff takes crowbars to remove once it gets set up. EG They studied barnacles to invent super glue.
Yeah like this will work… Maybe a small boat with outboards.
http://www.boatwashnow.com/
Boat prep day before a cruise. Ouch. Think of the line up.
Anyone think this will work with in-board engines all the running gear? Props and Struts etc.? How about with stabilizers in the water? Nope!
The new stuff they want to “hope it works” costs a fortune…
Ecominder Antifouling Bottom Paint is $550 for 5 gallons needed to do a small 30 foot boat.
Makes sense to me to first eliminate the source of the problem (repaint the boats). Then, monitor copper levels to see if further action is needed. Perhaps the existing copper will diffuse naturally.
Regarding the success of white bass in the Marina, many species are much more sensitive to copper pollution than white bass.
The Los Angeles section of the State Water Quality Board passed the motion last night in the last two minutes of the meeting. Argh. The City of LA asked for one more year to fix Oxford basin. The County of LA asked for two years to get better data on the sediments and figure out how to deal with this. The boater community asked for leniency as there is little alternative for the copper biocide now used to protect the boats from pests that adhere to the bottoms of the boats and can easily make them unusable. Even the boat yards and paint suppliers spoke up about the lack of real alternatives. The board members asked the staff some good questions and the staff gave the same response… Nope we know better than all this public input. Sad.
This will be very costly to all MDR boaters, the County, the City, and does very little to help the environment just to satisfy some archaic sections of EPA rule 303. But a couple of folks at SMBaykeeper and HealTheBay can be very happy that they are stuffing their religion down the throats of MDR users for the sake of a mussel called Mytilus galloprovincialis.
A win for ideological zealots who serve the deity of Extreme Environmentalism.
Never mind that it is an invasive species in the first place. Look this animal up on Wikipedia.
Now what? Starting a cookie jar savings account for new extra expensive bottom paint that is easily scratched and does not work well. So Sad.