THE OCEANOGRAPHY OF SANTA MONICA BAY 

 INTRODUCTION 



In the summer of 1955 the University of Southern California 

 was requested by Hyperion Engineers, Inc. to furnish infor- 

 mation on Santa Monica Bay which would assist in the design of 

 a proposed oceanic sewage outfall for the City of Los Angeles. 

 The existing Hyperion treatment plant, placed in operation in 

 1950, has an average design capacity of 245 million gallons of 

 sewage per day, which is treated by primary settling followed 

 by the high rate activated sludge process. The treatment is 

 supplemented by chlorination when necessary. The outfall from 

 this plant terminates one mile from shore. Because of the 

 unprecedented growth in the Los Angeles area this rate of flow 

 soon was reached and it was therefore necessary to provide for 

 the eventual disposal by the year 2000 of an average of 640 

 million gallons per day. A number of alternative schemes were 

 proposed for taking care of this enormous quantity of sewage. 

 However, the one which was considered to be most economical 

 recommended increasing the capacity of the present Hyperion 

 plant and disposing the sludge and primary-treated effluent 

 through separate ocean outfalls terminating at distances of 

 five to six miles from the shore of Santa Monica Bay. 



The University was engaged by Hyperion Engineers, Inc. to 

 supply data on bottom topography, sediments, and hydrographic 

 features of Santa Monica Bay which were directly related to 

 the design and construction of the outfalls. However, within 

 a short time it became apparent that additional information on 



