Malibu water treatment payments could increase $1,000 a month

If regional water quality officials approve a planned ban on septic systems in central Malibu as expected, residential property owners in the pretentious area would be on the hook for $1,000 a month to pay for a centralized wastewater treatment system.

Commercial property owners benefiting from the treatment system could be needed to lay out significantly more, the city said.

Malibu said in a statement that such a system would cost $52 million, more than three times the $16.7-million projection that the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has optional at recent community workshops.

Upset at what it calls Malibu's slow pace of correcting water pollution issues in Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and at Surf rider Beach, the water board has proposed a prohibition on septic systems in the city's core.