City of Avalon Must Clean Up Its Water

Located on a crystal clear bay on Santa Catalina Island off the cost of Southern California, the resort town of Avalon does not look polluted. The hills are lush with vibrant vegetation and the water is cold and clear - or so it seems.

Catalina Island
© Catalina Island Conservancy

According to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, Avalon's picturesque harbor is one of the most polluted in the nation. The source of the contamination is the city's aging sewer system, an antiquated network of clay pipes, which leak raw sewage into the surrounding ground water. This water then mixes with the bay water, creating a health hazard for swimmers, boaters, and others who come in contact with the water. 

From the Hills Above the City of Avalon

Avalon Harbor Beach with the famous casino the background

Charlie Wagner, Avalon's chief administrative officer, said that the city is working to quickly correct the problem. The LA Times reports that work is already underway to replace the old pipe with modern plastic pipe. Officials hope that Avalon Harbor will past strict water quality tests by the summer of 2016. Currently, the harbor fails environmental tests so regularly that signs are frequently posted warning beach-goers of the risk. 





City of Avalon Must Clean Up Its Water by Thomas Vieira is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.latimes.com.