162 



Compliance with S tate Standards 



On May 2, 1956, the State Water Pollution Control Board 

 established transparency standards for Santa Monica Bay which 

 are to be conformed to "insofar as such conditions are affected 

 by the waste discharges from Hyperion", The conditions, as 

 stated are that, "The transparency at each sampling station 

 (B and C), as measured by the Secchi disc„ shall equal or 

 exceed 20 feet in 50% of all readings and shall exceed 15 

 feet in 80% of any 20 consecutive readings," It is apparent 

 that at the C stations in the nearshore part of the bay,, this 

 requirement cannot be met at the present time. It is also 

 apparent that a transparency of 15-20 feet may not be met at 

 specific times at the other C stations, nor at the B stations. 

 This second condition, however, is not likely to be prolonged 

 over periods great enough to constitute 50% of consecutive 

 weekly readings. The question then arises as to whether the 

 turbidity in the nearshore waters can be attributed to the 

 present discharge of sewage. Analyses of the data gathered 

 during the bacteriological work to determine the extent of the 

 sewage field indicates that for distances greater than two 

 miles from the outfall, the presence of sewage is undetectable 

 from particulate material and detectable to less than 1% from 

 chemical data. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that 

 turbidity resulting from the addition of particles by the 

 sewage extends for only two, or slightly more, miles from the 

 outfall. The low transparency of the water along the shores 

 of the rest of Santa Monica Bay must, then, be caused by 

 natural conditions. 



