By Jorge Casuso

Nov. 3 -- With a smattering of surfers riding the waves of Surfrider Beach in the distance, state officials Friday announced a $1.25 million grant to the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu to help clean up the Bay.

The grant from the Integrated Waste Management Board -- $750,000 for Santa Monica and $500,000 for Malibu -- will fund projects to keep trash out of Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Creek, the two largest watersheds for Santa Monica Bay.

At a ceremony on the beach at Malibu Lagoon, environmental groups joined State and local officials to tout the cities' leadership in addressing the problems of urban runoff. Both cities are seeking to reduce contamination from storm drains with projects that will remove trash and other solid wastes from Malibu Lagoon and Ballona Creek.

"Keeping trash out of Ballona Creek and Malibu Lagoon is an important step in improving the health of Santa Monica Bay," said Linda Moulton-Patterson, chair of the Waste Board, the state's primary recycling agency and part of the California Environmental Protection Agency. "These projects will have a direct benefit to local residents, visitors and surfers at Surfrider, Venice and Dockweiler beaches and beyond."

Council members Richard Bloom and Pam O'Connor, with O'Connor's mom Esther Smicklas (seated).

"Education, engineering and enforcement, which are usually applied to pedestrian safety, should be applied to the Bay to make it safer for people and marine life," said Santa Monica Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom.

The Santa Monica project will consist of placing trash removal facilities in storm drains in the vicinity of Pico and Centinela boulevards that lead to Ballona Creek, which provides ecologically sensitive habitat for fish and wildlife and enters Santa Monica Bay at Venice Beach and Dockweiler State Beach

Heal the Bay -- a local nonprofit organization that monitors and grades southern California beaches for bacteria contamination -- commonly rates these beaches an "F."

The $500,000 matching grant to Malibu will help pay for removing solid waste from storm drains flowing into Malibu Creek and Lagoon and disinfecting those drains. A $2 million grant for the project from the Governor's Clean Beaches Initiative was awarded to the city earlier this year.

In Malibu, these facilities will be constructed at three urban runoff outfall sites -- Cross Creek, Civic Center and Malibu Road -- that drain approximately150 acres of commercial and highway use.

Santa Monica Bay's only brackish lagoon, Malibu Lagoon provides ecologically sensitive wetlands habitat for fish and wildlife. The adjacent Surfrider Beach is a popular spot for surfers, residents and tourists and has been subject to contamination for a number of years. The accumulated wastes have spread downstream to beaches, wetlands, and other public contact areas in the past.

"Surfrider is one of the most polluted beaches in Southern California and this has gone on too long," said Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay. "For the very, very first time we are seeing something major to make sure this beach is safe to swim and surf.

"This is the beginning of getting the funds," Gold said. "We must make sure those monies are spent as effectively as possible."

But cleaning the Bay will take more than money, said Malibu's City Engineer Rick Morgan. It also will take a new mindset.

"We need to change the way we think," said Morgan, an avid surfer who seldom surfs the polluted waters at Surfrider Beach. "Use a broom instead of hosing down a driveway.

"As a society we have a responsibility to protect our ocean and our planet. We're going to turn this (money) into something that's going to do something real significant."