Seal Beach has received a contribution from the county to help fund cleaning and raking services at the shore for a year and kickstart a study of how best to keep more trash and debris from flushing down the San Gabriel River to litter the sand and get into the ocean.
Following storms, trash and pollutants from inland cities gets washed down rivers and channels to the shore up and down the coast, often covering beaches after a downpour.
In January, city, county and state officials, environmentalists and decision-makers from across Los Angeles and Orange County gathered in Seal Beach to discuss the chronic trash issues relating to the San Gabriel River, which also impacts shorelines in Long Beach to the north, and the offshore waters as debris flows out into the Pacific Ocean.
First District Supervisor Andrew Do participated in those discussions and is now allocating $525,000 from his office’s discretionary funds toward figuring out ways to battle the beach and ocean pollution. The OC Board of Supervisors approved the allocation Tuesday.
The funding will go to the city of Seal Beach and will help it initiate a study with other stakeholders for a long-term mitigation strategy, which is expected to end up costing about $6 million over several phases, Do’s office said in its report accompanying the allocation request.
Assemblymember Diane Dixon, who organized the meeting in January to brainstorm solutions, said after spending time with Seal Beach Councilmember Joe Kalmick it became clear that solving the trash problem in the San Gabriel River is a “regional crisis that needs to be tackled.”
“This is common sense problem-solving without politics,” she said in a statement thanking Do for allocating the needed funds.
The San Gabriel River is a tricky puzzle, funneling runoff from 52 inland cities and two counties into the ocean, with trash and debris getting swept up in the water flowing down storm drains, gutters and inlets.
Kalmick was pleased to…
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