L.A. agrees to pay $20.8 million in massive wastewater spill into Santa Monica Bay

More than 12 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Santa Monica Bay in 2021, shutting down beaches and leaving people in the surrounding area with skin rashes, headaches and other symptoms.

Now, the city of Los Angeles must pay $20.8 million as part of an agreement with federal authorities.

The July 2021 spill led to the closures of Dockweiler State Beach and El Segundo Beach after millions of gallons of untreated wastewater being processed at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in El Segundo were dumped into the bay, according to Heal the Bay, an ecological nonprofit that has been tracking the environment fallout.

To resolve a criminal investigation launched by federal authorities, LA has agreed to pay more than $20 million to cover repairs and improvements to the plant, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced Tuesday. Those actions are expected to resolve problems that led to the massive sewage dump and will also go toward related environment projects.

"This agreement requires the City to take concrete steps and commit substantial funds to improving the Hyperion facility and thereby prevent a disaster like this from reoccurring," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement from his office.  

The Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been carrying out the investigation.

Last year, the Los Angeles Regional Water Control Board proposed a $21.7 million penalty for the spill, calling it the largest penalty the board "has ever proposed for violations of a waste discharge permit."

People living near the plant suffered from headaches, skin rashes, nausea and "noxious odors" due to the spill, according to the water board, which released a statement about its investigation uncovering permit violations and harmful "deficiencies" at the plant.

"This was a major incident, one of the largest spills in our region in decades," Hugh Marley, assistant executive officer of the board, said in the statement, adding that the spill "threatened the health of nearby communities, as well as fish and wildlife, and violated numerous environmental laws and regulations."

After the spill, testing and monitoring of offshore waters near the bay led to the discovery of excessive, unsafe levels of bacteria, including E. coli and infection-causing Enterococcus, according to federal prosecutors.

But when millions of gallons of raw sewage first surged into the Santa Monica Bay, on the afternoon of July 11, 2021, the public wasn't told until the following day. Meanwhile, contaminated beaches stayed open for another 16 hours. That's according to a letter that LA County Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport wrote to the county's Board of Supervisors in calling for an investigation.

In the weeks that followed, a Los Angeles Times investigation discovered that millions of gallons of partially treated sewage was still being released from the damaged facility into the bay. 

At the time, county officials estimated the spill released as much as 17 million gallons of untreated sewage.

A weeklong independent probe into the incident was carried out by the firm Citygate Associates LLC Fire & Emergency Services, which also investigated the Woolsey Fire that tore through nearly 100,000 acres in LA and Ventura counties in 2018. 

The firm released a report later in July outlining exactly what caused the spill.

Large piece of trash had overwhelmed a filtering screen, which uses mechanical rakes to filter out debris such branches and plastic, leading to rapidly rising waters that flooded the building and led to the evacuation of employees "due to the increasingly life-threatening circumstances," according to the report. About six hours later, the plant filed a Haz Mat Spill/Release Report with the California Office of Emergency Services, the report explains, leading to inspections and emergency efforts.

The investigation uncovered the fact that the city's emergency management department and LA Fire Department had no idea there was anything wrong at the plant the afternoon the spill happened. The report indicated there was no effective plan for notifying the public and no central point of command for dealing with the situation.

"The handling of this release and the necessary public notification were failures," the report states. 

Over the next few days, concerns surfaced from public health officials and local residents. One small business owner in El Segundo told the county's Board of Supervisors she was running an air conditioner and fan 24/7 to try getting rid of the "human excrement smell coming in strong all over El Segundo." In its own response, Heal the Bay blasted county officials for their response to the spill.

"The events that occurred on July 11 and 12 must never happen again, from the discharge of 17 million gallons of sewage to the failures in protecting public health," the nonprofit wrote in a letter addressing the board.

The city of LA will be making improvements to the Hyperion plant under the direction of an Administrative Order On Consent that was previously issued by the EPA. These orders list the corrective actions that must be taken after major environmental violations.

Some of the improvements expected to be made at the plant include construction and changes to current equipment that will make the plant able to handle higher volumes of debris and garbage as well as training operators there on these new changes. The city's water quality testing program will also be expanded, with two new testing sites added between Dockweiler Beach and King Harbor.

LA must carry out a rapid bacteria testing study and get accredited by the EPA for testing bacteria levels in ocean waters "on a more rapid basis," according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney outlining the settlement. The city must also hire an independent, third-party firm to perform annual audits at the plant to see if it's in compliance with these changes as well as with the Clean Water Act.

The Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant is the oldest and largest wastewater treatment facility in Los Angeles and handles the city's sewage as well as that of Beverly Hills, El Segundo, San Fernando, Culver City, Santa Monica and West Hollywood. 

This service area runs across a wide swath of the county that includes more than 4 million people, with the plant treating an estimated 260 million gallons of wastewater per day, according to federal authorities.