Manhattan Beach Municipal Code Ch. 5.40 Tidelands and Submerged Lands

This chapter is enacted under and pursuant to the police powers of the City for the purpose of protecting the health, welfare and safety of the inhabitants of the City and for the protection of the health, welfare and safety of those persons making use of the tidelands and submerged lands and the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is further enacted pursuant to the provisions of Division 7 of the Water Code of the State.

This chapter is further enacted under the authority conferred upon the City by the terms and provisions of a grant of tideland and submerged lands contained in an act of the Legislature of the State entitled, "An Act Conveying Certain Tide and Submerged Lands to the City of Manhattan Beach in Furtherance of Navigation, Commerce and Fisheries upon Certain Trusts and Conditions, and Providing for the Government, Management, Use and Control Thereof, Statutes 1955, Chapter 1427, at pages 2595, 2596 and 2597, which said grant is hereby expressly accepted by the Council of the City for and on behalf of its citizens and inhabitants under the terms of and subject to those certain trusts and conditions, and the provisions for the government, management, use and control of said tide and submerged lands and the waters of the Pacific Ocean all as covered by and contained in said grant.

(§ 7, Ord. 756)

For the purposes of this chapter, certain words and phrases used herein are defined as follows:

A. "Sewage" shall mean any and all waste substance, liquid or solid, associated with human habitation, or which contains or may be contaminated with human or animal excreta or excrement, offal or any feculent matter.

B. "Industrial waste" shall mean any and all liquid or solid waste substance, not sewage, from any producing, manufacturing or processing operation of whatever nature.

C. "Effluent of treated sewage" shall mean the liquid or solution discharged from a sewage treatment plant which:

1. Contains more than 0.5 E coli per cubic centimeter;

2. Contains Paratyphoid A or B bacteria;

3. Contains any sewage plant grease whether notice-able as a gray metallic acum or as gray pebble or shell-like specks or froth, or in any other form;

4. Contains oil, tar, feces or other substance which alone or in combination when emptied into the waters of the Pacific Ocean discolors said ocean waters and/or destroys or impairs the transparency of said ocean waters;

5. Has of itself, or causes the waters of the Pacific Ocean or the tidelands or submerged lands of this City to have, an odor or sewage smell;

6. Has, or contains, or transports, or empties into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, or on the tidelands or submerged lands, any suspended solid matter produced by sewage treatment processes commonly known and referred to as sewage sludge; or

7. Contains chemicals, substances or gases which, when emptied into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, injuriously affects, destroys or impairs the reproduction, growth or health of marine life.

D. "Effluent of industrial waste" shall mean the liquid or solution discharged from a treatment plant which violates any of the standards prescribed by this chapter for "effluent of treated sewage."

E. "Marine life" includes fish, crustaceans, plankton and all forms of animal and plant life indigenous to the waters of the ocean in Santa Monica Bay.

(§ 3, Ord. 756)

Tidelands and submerged lands and the waters of the Pacific Ocean covered by this chapter are as described in an act of the Legislature of the State entitled, "An Act Conveying Certain Tide and Submerged Lands to the City of Manhattan Beach in Furtherance of Navigation, Commerce and Fisheries upon Certain Trusts and Conditions, and Providing for the Government, Management, Use and Control Thereof," Statutes 1955, Chapter 1427, at pages 2595, 2596 and 2597.

(§ 2, Ord. 256)

It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge or to cause or permit sewage or industrial waste or the effluent of treated sewage or industrial waste to be discharged on or upon any tidelands or submerged lands within the City, or to discharge or cause or permit sewage or industrial waste or the effluent of treated sewage or industrial waste to be discharged into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

(§ 1, Ord. 756)

It shall be unlawful for any person to cause or permit ocean waters containing sewage or industrial waste or the effluent of treated sewage or industrial waste:

A. To be discharged or to flow on or upon any tidelands or submerged lands within the City; or

B. To mingle, intermix with, or to otherwise pollute the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

(§ 4, Ord. 756)

Every violation of this chapter shall be a nuisance and may be abated as such. Actions for the abatement of such nuisances shall be instituted by or on behalf of the City in any court of competent jurisdiction and shall be maintained and prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State.

(§ 5, Ord. 756)