AP file photo Debris and standing water collect last year where the creek running through Santa Monica Canyon drains into Santa Monica Bay at Will Rogers State Beach. Environmental groups are hoping to force local agencies to clean up the water.

LOS ANGELES A decade after environmental groups settled a federal lawsuit with a plan to control pollution flowing into Southern California coastal waters, they have filed an intent to sue again this time to force local agencies to actually clean up the water.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Santa Monica Baykeeper used Los Angeles County's own data to show how the county and the city of Malibu potentially owe millions of dollars in fines for violating the Clean Water Act. The notice, which was sent Thursday, is the first step in filing a federal lawsuit within the next 60 days.

"This lawsuit focuses explicitly on results measured at the beach and in local waters," said David Beckman, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "No longer could the county merely file a paper program to be in compliance with the Clean Water Act. It would have to actually clean up the water to be in compliance."

The federal law required pollution limits to be set by 1979 for all water in the United States considered unsafe for people and aquatic life.

In the mid-1990s, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Baykeeper filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the county violated clean water standards by failing to control storm water polluting Santa Monica Bay. The two sides settled in 1996, with the county promising to develop a program to find the type and source of pollutants flowing into the bay through storm drains and flood control channels.

In 1999, the same groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing for 20 years to ensure that state waters were clean. In a settlement that year, the EPA agreed to set pollution limits for the 156 water bodies in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

In this latest round of legal action, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Baykeeper say Los Angeles County and Malibu have routinely violated clean water standards by discharging contaminated water and urban runoff into coastal waters. County data showed that Malibu Creek and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers repeatedly exceeded safe levels of cyanide, aluminum and fecal coliform.

The groups' notice seeks imposition of penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act ranging from $27,500 to $32,500 per day dating to May 2002.

Some of the area's most famous beaches have been plagued for years by water quality problems, which can make people sick. Los Angeles County had the 2,213 beach closings in 2005, the notice said.