L.A. River trash limits upheld.(Los Angeles )

A limit on the amount of trash that can be discharged into the Los Angeles River has been upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court rejected a challenge filed by 22 cities in Los Angeles County to a limit established by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The federal Clean Water Act requires regulatory agencies to establish TMDLs (total maximum daily loads) for pollutants in "impaired" water bodies. In 1997, environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not establishing TMDLs for the Los Angeles region. The lawsuit resulted in a consent decree in which the EPA agreed to set TMDLs for all significant sources …