Malibu, while famous for the scenic beauty of its coastline also has to deal with heavy tourist traffic and the water pollution associated with the tourist population. The City of Malibu has begun construction of Legacy Park, one of the biggest projects in the city’s history to address the storm water issue. The project is a water treatment plant, to clean up polluted water in the Malibu area, as well as a park.
The facilities in Legacy Park will remove 90 percent of the storm water through the water treatment plant, improving ocean water quality and restoring the local habitat. The facilities within the park will eliminate most of the runoff into the Malibu Lagoon, Surfrider Beach and Malibu Creek.
Water flows will be redirected from three major storm drains to Legacy Park’s storm water treatment facility, where it will be cleaned and disinfected. The clean water can then be stored and reused for park irrigation or deposited into Malibu Creek, if a large amount of rainfall has occurred and there is a surplus of water.
Pump stations located at the Malibu Road, Cross Creek drain and the Central Treatment Facility allow up to 1400 gallons of runoff per minute to be collected by storm drains and pumps, processed and then disinfected by an ozone treatment. This lessens the amount of harmful components such as phosphorus, ammonia and nitrogen in the water.