Building Owners Fined for Spilling Oily Water Into Creek

The owners of a Mid-Wilshire apartment complex that spilled thousands of gallons of oil-contaminated water into Ballona Creek in October was slapped Wednesday with a $354,000 fine, the largest such penalty ever issued by a regional water agency against a real estate management firm, officials said.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board levied the fine against Wilshire West Partners, owners of a 168-unit apartment building near the La Brea Tar Pits where basement sumps must collect naturally occurring oil and tar. The partnership was accused of violating its discharge permit and improperly maintaining the equipment that spilled more than 4,000 gallons of oily water into the creek via storm drains.

The discharge polluted portions of the Ballona Wetlands and harmed dozens of birds. But a toxic cleanup contractor, the U.S. Coast Guard and the state Fish and Game Department averted an environmental disaster by trapping much of the oil in the creek, one of the region’s major storm water channels. That work prevented much of the oil and tar from entering Santa Monica Bay.

Representatives of Wilshire West Partners could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The firm will have several opportunities to appeal the fine with the agency and in court.

The owners already have paid more than $400,000 in cleanup costs, and the fine comes on top of that. Officials at the regional water board say the spill was caused by two faulty oil sump pumps in the underground garage of Wilshire Renaissance Apartments.

The equipment is intended to collect and separate the water, oil and tar that seep from the earth into the foundation. When working properly, the pump sends only filtered water into a city storm drain. When the equipment malfunctions, everything gets dumped into the drain.

Dennis Dickerson, executive officer of the water board, said the fine was intended to send a message not only to Wilshire West Partners but also to other sump pump owners. He did not know how many similar pumps are operating in the area but said they are in use throughout the neighborhood.

“Hopefully, this will deter others from ignoring the requirements of their permits,” Dickerson said. “Had these people faithfully followed the requirements of their permit, this would not have happened.”

In its 19-page complaint against Wilshire West Partners, the water board said the firm had routinely failed to submit required reports to the agency and make necessary upgrades to the sump system.

At one point, a contractor told the owners that they would need to make $250,000 in repairs to the equipment, according to the complaint. Instead, they reconfigured the system at a cost of $5,000, the document said.