Heal the Ocean spent much time working with environmental health directors from around the state in Sacramento meetings to craft language for AB 885 septic regulations, written into law by then-assemblymember (now state Senator) Hannah-Beth Jackson in the year 2000. It was difficultbusiness, because Malibu is different from Mojave, and San Diego is not the Russian River, and so on. But with the consulting help of former Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Director Rick Merrifield (who is now on HTO’s Advisory Board), we and Heal the Bay, Santa Monica wereable to make input into language that was acceptable to all, and the regulations went into effect in June 2012.

For over a year we have been seeking AB885 compliance on a number of non-compliant septic system owners in a listed 303(d) impaired area in the Santa Barbara south coast, where septic systems have been identified as contributing to pollution issues in nearby water bodies (ocean and creek). We thank the Los Angeles Regional Water Control Board for following through on the AB 885 mandate with enforcement notices.*

*Notices have been heavily redacted to delete confidential information.