On June 15, the Palisadian-Post published a story investigating the “black rock” that lines the pond at the base of Santa Monica Canyon at Chautauqua. This investigation was prompted by a letter to the Post from a concerned Palisadian who alleged that county officials had dumped the rock on the beach from the bridge to the water line. These rocks, our reader said, made walking on the beach difficult and painful for himself as well as his children. During our investigation, we were told by Joe Chesler, division chief of County Beaches and Harbors, that the rock had in fact not been dumped there, but was natural runoff from the channel. This raised another issue: the faulty low-flow diversion system at the base of the canyon which is responsible for the ponding on the beach. Several times a year the county dredges the polluted water in the pond out into the ocean. The diversion system, consisting of a recently installed steel berm and three large drains, is intended to send water coming down the channel during the dry season (April through October) to the Hyperion sewage plant for treatment. “When the diversion works like it is supposed to, [Will Rogers State Beach] should get an ‘A’,” said Mark Gold, head of Heal the Bay, in our June 15 article. “Instead, this beach has been rated ‘F’ for years…” A few weeks ago, I took a walk up the channel to investigate the source of the rocks and the berm situation. I started at the beach and slid my way down the hillside, covered with the offending black rock, and into the channel itself. Strange looks followed me, but how could I blame them? Knee-high boots, a tripod, and a large black camera are not exactly typical beach paraphernalia. I had chosen this time of day’around 6 p.m.’for the dramatic lighting I hoped it would provide on the water, and I was not disappointed. As a gust of wind swept in from the ocean, I snapped my first shot. Walking into the channel itself, I passed first underneath the bike path and then Pacific Coast Highway. To say the odor here was pungent would be conservative. Moist black rock crunched underfoot. Several large and small drainage pipes in the side of the tunnel poured brown, foamy water and garbage into the mix, creating a moat around the main body of black rock. The black rock thinned as I stepped out of the tunnel and back into the sunlight. Overhead, several seagulls flew down the channel. Continuing on, I soon reached the berm, a large piece of steel, laid down to divert the flow from up the channel into a drainage basin. It appeared to be working: a steady, strong flow of runoff struck the berm and went into the adjacent drain. About 50 feet ahead, a chain-link fence served to catch large pieces of debris. Most of the items it had snared were plants, but there were also several aerosol cans, as well as a discarded planter. Looking another 50 feet ahead, I saw that the channel split into two separate paths. As anyone who has driven along West Channel Road can tell you, the right lane continues up East Rustic Road. Opting for adventure and intrigue, I chose the left channel where there was a steady stream of runoff. Above, there were houses, some with bridges over the stream. I walked a mile up the channel. While I saw some graffiti on the walls, I did not see any black rock. In fact, I had not seem any black rock since I left the tunnel by the PCH. Ultimately, I left the channel with more questions than I’d had when I started out. I wondered if the new berm was finally going to stem the flow of water that ponded at the beach? Also, the Post had reported in June that the city and county were under pressure to meet federal Clean Water quality standards by July 15 or face fines up to $32,500 per day. Had those standards been met? And finally, were there any plans to remove the existing black rock from Will Rogers Beach? According to Mark Pastrella, Assistant Deputy Director of the L.A. County Flood Control District, “People’s perception of the beach is that it’s just sand, but if you dig down, you’re going to come to rock. The natural erosion of the sand [in that area] has exposed the rock. When the rock is exposed to water, it turns black.” Pastrella said that rock also comes down from the channel. He did not indicate that there are any plans to remove the black rock on the beach, which was covered over with sand last week. Meanwhile, the berm is apparently doing its dry-weather job. Since our report in June, the beach at Chautauqua has received all “A’s” except for last week when it received a “B” after the county dredged the water in the pond out into the ocean. Still, Gold, who has been lobbing for two years to have the pond filled in, feels there has been progress, “considering that this beach, for years, was considered one of the most polluted in the county. At least that has been corrected.”
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