What makes Malibu special? Septic tanks

The problem isn't the "septic tank".  Ther problem is what happens to the effluent (grey water) that leaves the septic tank.  In a standard septic system, the effluent leaches into a drainfield where the soil is supposed to natually filter and clean the wastewater.  However, if the quality of the soil (i.e. amount of soil vs. rock or clay, perc rates, number of naturally occuring microorganisms, etc) is not satisfactory or has been depleted over time with the continual innundation of wastewater, the septic system's leach (drain) field will fail to adequately address (clean and filter) the wastewater.

A simple, efficient, and environmentally-friendly solution is to require any failing systems to retrofit a secondary filtration system to replace the leach (drain) field.  Often, this can include simple peat moss chambers burried at ground level on a bed of gravel.  The peat moss cells/chambers will offer much greater performance in cleaning the effluent that leaves the septic tank.  These peat moss cells take up less space than a standard leach (drain) field, are cost-effective, and easy to install.

Another option is to look a smaller, community-based treatment plants that collect the effluent from a number of neighborhood properties and takes the effluent to a small filter system that uses recirculating sand filters to clean the wastewater and provide a quality discharge that far exceeds EPA standards.  Likewise, the sand refiltration approach can be applied in a cost-effective method to a single residential system as well as used for small communities to serve numerous homes.

See these excerpts:

An environmentally sensitive, small diameter sewer collection system coupled with a community-based treatment facility can offer builders and developers an environmentally-responsible solution for meeting wastewater needs as an element of a green land development. (NAHB Green Builder 11/06).

Small Flows Quarterly, a scholarly journal dedicated to helping America's communities meet their wastewater needs, recently analyzed the RFS’s tremendous capacity for water conservation and reclamation.  "The RSF system provides a reliable and cost effective option for smaller wastewater systems... Additionally, the high quality effluent this treatment system can produce makes it an excellent candidate for water reuse/reclamation applications." 

Just knowing that is how they dispose of the "gray water" and where it comes from and where it goes is enough for me NOT to ever come to Malibu. See the hills and get an infection that could last a life time with the super bugs that come from such a system. YUCK!

There are a lot of options that can be done and it should be the homeowners responsibility to clean it up, and the state of CA. to make sure that they do. They are only one city, but others should not have to put up with their @!$%#. Literally and figurately.

How many other cities water feeds from those underground streams that are affected? Big shots thinking they are better than the rest, and think their @!$%# doesn't stink.

it's barbara striesands fault,what a beeotch!