State water board challenges Malibu's Big Rock drainage Play

California's Water Board is raising objections to the way that the city of Malibu dumps water into the Pacific from the Big Rock Mesa drains.

The City Council will go into secret session next week to discuss allegations that the city is violating its Clean Water Act permits at Big Rock.

For more than 35 years, water has been pulled out of the massive Big Rock landslide area, which sits beneath more than 300 houses at the eastern end of the city.

Back in 1966, land began shifting in an area where natural groundwater and water from septic tanks and lawns made the rocks crumble. A series of wells, drains and pumps pulls water out from the hills and cliffs, which has stopped the earth movement.

But the water drains into the ocean, and the federal and state governments have strict regulations about that.

The exact violations have not been released by the city. But the item has been scheduled for the City Council to discuss behind closed doors in one week.