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Sanitation officials report monitoring finds no acute public‑health threshold exceedances; arsenic detected at multiple sites
Summary
LA Sanitation presented coastal monitoring data following Palisades fire debris. Multiple agencies sampled water, sediment and tissue; early tests showed elevated zinc and copper in some samples but county officials judged levels below thresholds requiring closures. Arsenic appeared at several sites and city staff said follow‑up seafood tissue
City sanitation and water‑quality staff told the ad hoc recovery committee they have coordinated a multi‑agency sampling effort in Santa Monica Bay after debris from the Palisades fires entered coastal waters, and that follow‑up sampling and tissue testing are planned for the fall.
Stacy Carnio, manager of biology at LA Sanitation, briefed the committee on sampling carried out since February and on joint cruises and shore sampling involving the Regional Water Board, county public health, university partners and state research programs. Carnio said early laboratory results identified elevated concentrations of metals including zinc and copper at some sites but that county public‑health and port authorities later determined the measured levels were below thresholds that would trigger an immediate public‑health closure for recreational contact.
Carnio told the committee that arsenic was detected in sediment samples at multiple stations; those concentrations were within regionally accepted ranges for Los Angeles area sites and were not judged by the regional agencies to be an acute danger attributable to the fire. She said agencies could not always attribute the arsenic to the fires because background levels in the region have historically included arsenic. The sanitation division is continuing quarterly and event‑based monitoring and will begin a local seafood tissue testing program in October that will analyze muscle tissue for arsenic, PCBs and other contaminants.
The committee heard that an initial cross‑agency monitoring schedule included surveys Feb. 4–Mar. 10, May 6–8 and Aug. 12–14, plus a recent sampling window July 22–Sept. 11 that covered 44 stations. University partners provided oceanographic profiles (CTD) and lab analysis for dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll‑a, nutrients and bacteria. Carnio said no “lethal” public‑health threat was identified in the sampling to date but emphasized that continued monitoring is important, particularly with the approach of the rainy season.
Councilmembers asked how monitoring results would be communicated to residents at higher risk from exposure (people with immune system concerns) and how quickly beach advisories would be posted if conditions change. Sanitation and county public‑health staff said the county posts beach advisories and that the 72‑hour recommendation after rain remains the primary public guidance for avoiding recreational contact during runoff events.
Sanitation staff and councilmembers also discussed coordination shortcomings that agencies identified during the response — multiple groups took samples early on with limited coordination — and agreed to keep working on shared protocols and to use satellite imagery and coordinated cruise schedules to reduce duplication and clarify sampling responsibilities.
The committee voted to receive and file the sanitation report.
