SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S ENVIRONMENT At the Crossroads : The Ocean: <i> OUR SEA, ITS CREATURES AND MAN</i> : Sewage, litter, industrial waste raise fears of what the tide will bring in next. : Finding a Cure for a Poisoned Pacific

Standing atop the bluffs at Santa Monica’s Palisades Park or walking on the warm sands of Huntington Beach, it is easy to picture the sea as unimaginably vast, almost limitless. Oceans, after all, cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and contain 98.8% of its water. But oceans also receive enough of the world’s wastes to raise public fears about the safety of such pleasurable pastimes as swimming, surfing and fishing.

The good news, according to scientists, is that anti-pollution laws enacted over the last two decades are having their intended effect. “The levels of some contaminants are one-one-hundredth of what they were in the early 1970s,” said Henry Schafer of the Southern California Water Resources Research Project.

The bad news is that some fish species remain too contaminated to eat, some surfers and swimmers still complain of pollution-related illnesses, and scientific evidence indicates that cleaning up the stubborn pollution that lingers will be very expensive, if it is technically feasible at all, and the benefits relatively small.

People create pollution, and always will. The questions for the near future are: How much pollution can we afford to live with? How clean can we afford to make the ocean?

Pollution takes many paths to the sea, and the usual bogymen of tanker accidents and toxic industrial discharges are only a few. More voluminous and perhaps more dangerous--there is not enough information on all pollutants to know for sure--are the byproducts of everyday living: pollution that comes through sewers and storm drains, litter and even toxic contaminants that waft out to sea as smog.

Marine mammal activist Margaret Johnson of Huntington Beach fears that the sea is being used as a “big Tidy Bowl.” An exaggeration, perhaps, but there is a surprising volume of “waste water”--treated sewage--poured into coastal waters daily. Los Angeles County squirts 800 million gallons into Santa Monica Bay every 24 hours. Orange County disposes of 260 million gallons off Huntington Beach. San Diego County adds 190 million gallons off Point Loma.

Urban Poisons

On top of this are all-too-frequent accidental releases of raw sewage--40 million gallons in Los Angeles County alone in 1987 and 1988, leading to the closure of every beach in the county at least once during that time. Laguna Beach has suffered 16 raw sewage spills in the last two years, earning that town an odorous reputation as “Sewage Strand.” “It happens with such frequency that you start getting a little gun-shy every time you go into the water,” surfer Todd Marker said. “You just hope you don’t pick up some strange disease.”

Longest suffering are the areas nearest urban centers--Santa Monica Bay is carpeted with Los Angeles’ sewage sludge and the harbor with toxic cargo spills, while San Diego Bay is souped up with industrial effluent. But there also are some surprising problem spots, such as Mugu Lagoon in Ventura County. Fertilizers and pesticides used long ago on the farmland that became Camarillo now seep through Revolon Slough and into the lagoon, poisoning its precious wetlands and kelp beds.

The sea off Mugu Lagoon is the only area in Southern California where the shellfish samples are so tainted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not allow them to be sold for human consumption. But Mugu is not the only area where fishermen are advised not to eat their catch. Authorities also warn anglers to avoid eating such bottom-dwelling species as white croaker from Santa Monica Bay because they contain high levels of the long-banned pesticide DDT.

Indeed, records from what was once the world’s largest pesticide factory show that 2,000 tons of the long-lasting DDT have been dumped near one area, at Los Angeles County’s sewage outfall near White’s Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The state can only guess at the volume and location of toxic discharge graveyards never recorded.

One hopeful note is that the worst damage evidently was done more than 10 years ago and was limited to near-coastal waters, where it was convenient to dump poisonous wastes. Pollution has not affected the abundant fisheries farther offshore, where the bulk of commercial fishing is done--a harvest that produces most of the seafood destined for markets and restaurants.

Another hopeful note is that some scientists believe the situation is improving. Alan Mearns of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle said levels of contaminants in many near-shore species have fallen by as much as 99% since the bad old days of the early 1970s, when the Food and Drug Administration was seizing shipments of bonito, tuna and other fish that were too tainted for interstate sale.

“I’m really kind of impressed how things have improved over the last 15 years,” Mearns said. “Levels of DDT have dropped dramatically. There are still some hot spots, no doubt, but over the entire (south) coast, things are much, much better.”

The Water Resources Research Project’s Schafer concurs, but he balks at pronouncing the patient cured. “Before we can say everything is hunky-dory, we have to know everything (about how the complex ocean ecosystem works),” he said. “To do that, there is enough work to keep scientists employed for the next century.”

How Clean?

The Southern California Assn. of Governments has boasted that “Santa Monica Bay is cleaner than Puget Sound (near Seattle and Tacoma), cleaner than Boston Harbor, cleaner even than San Francisco Bay.” But that does not mean it is clean. Victor Cabelli, a University of Rhode Island researcher who co-authored for SCAG a favorable report on the health of the bay, has conceded that a dip in certain bacteria-rich waters can result in a case of the “three-day runs.” Lifeguards, swimmers and surfers blame pollution for a variety of ills--rashes, flu-like symptoms, and eye and ear infections--that vanish when they stay ashore.

Schafer, for one, is skeptical of such reports. “I live in Huntington Beach and I know the surfers there complain all the time about getting sick,” he said, “but they are still out there. I can’t believe they would keep going out there if they were really getting sick.”

The city of Los Angeles, at least, has stopped pumping sewage sludge into the sea, leading Dorothy Green of the Santa Monica environmental group Heal the Bay to marvel that the city is “producing the best quality effluent since 1910.” But nine sanitation districts serving 80% of Orange County residents rejected improved sewage treatment in July, partly because it would have added $2 a month to an average customer’s bill.

Meanwhile, San Diego County flatly denies the value of costly secondary treatment--the special filtration that decreases the amount of solid material in sewage water released into the sea--and it is supported by a number of scientists from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Director Emeritus Roger Revelle said he knows of no evidence that secondary treatment benefits the environment when used at treatment plants that release waste water into the open sea. “We don’t get rid of the bacteria. We don’t get rid of the viruses. We don’t get rid of the toxic metals,” he asserted.

It is no insignificant claim, considering the billions of dollars that cities have poured into such systems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is unconvinced. It maintains that lesser-treated discharge from San Diego’s sewage plant contains so much bacteria that it hurts kelp beds and bottom-dwelling organisms. Also, the state Water Resources Control Board has detected high levels of potentially toxic silver in the sea nearby.

Such changes in ocean chemistry can alter the ecological balance, although the significance of this is not certain. For example, divers have found exotic clam species near the outfall of Orange County’s sewage plant; the non-native shellfish apparently are better suited to sewage effluent and have supplanted the once-ubiquitous native brittle red starfish. Some scientists argue that such unexpected events are a warning that complex ecological interrelationships are being changed and far more negative changes could result. Others argue that the net result is more fish, so the overall effect is better than benign.

Maddeningly, the debate over sewage treatment distracts people from an even more important issue: detoxification of contaminated runoff water in storm drains. Everyone agrees that runoff is the big remaining unregulated source of ocean pollution--”tiny toxic rivers (that) empty into the sea,” said Wheeler J. North, a marine biology professor at Caltech.

Overlooked as well is ordinary litter, especially plastics, which is so out of control that even in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, researchers find thousands of plastic foam bits in every square mile. The plastic debris can be as deadly to wildlife looking for food as it is dispiriting to people looking for an unspoiled environment.

As public interest rises anew--partly because of the social activism of such celebrities as actor Ted Danson, a founder of the American Oceans Campaign--many ocean issues are approaching political showdowns. The biggest will come next October with the expiration of a congressional moratorium on offshore oil leasing. The stakes in that well-publicized battle are tremendous.

There are 2,142 wells on 42 platforms off Southern California; the federal government wants to add up to 1,458 wells and 26 platforms to tap the 2.6 billion barrels of oil that may lie undiscovered off the coast. But California knows well the environmental cost of that oil. There was the 1969 Union Oil blowout in Santa Barbara, and California still is plagued by smog from platforms beyond the reach of state law. Adding to that anxiety is an Interior Department warning that there is a 94% chance of a major oil spill off Southern California within 30 years--twice the likelihood of a major earthquake.

The Next Spill

With visions of Exxon Valdez dancing in their heads, California politicians are lining up to stop drilling and start preparing for the next spill. Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and Controller Gray Davis, among others, champion a bill that would charge oil companies 50 cents a barrel to fund a $500-million oil disaster cleanup fund. Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) favor a ballot initiative that would have its own $500-million cleanup fund and create a full-time bureaucracy to monitor oil transportation and plan for disasters.

Westside marine biologist Rimmon C. Fay, a 30-year veteran of ocean issues, is encouraged by such interest, as well as signs that the ocean still can heal itself. Kelp forests in Santa Monica Bay, for example, are expanding. Even so, Fay realizes there is much left to do.

“The objectives of (federal anti-pollution laws) are being attained, and that is a good feeling,” Fay said. “But I cannot rejoice at winning a battle without still being concerned about the war. The reversal that we see is only partial. If ecology has anything to tell us, it’s that we have to live within the constraints of the ecosystem. But we are not doing it.”

REPORT CARD

Average score: 6.3

Three views on our progress, rated on a one to 10 scale

* Christine Reed, Santa Monica city councilwoman : “The fact that the city of L.A. stopped putting (sewage) sludge in the bay . . . is significant, but the grade is not going to move up until we deal with urban runoff and with the L.A. County sewage plant.” Score: 5

* Mark Pisano, Southern California Assn. of Governments : “In the last three to four years, we have begun to see progress . . . in reducing the amount of organic (contaminants) but as far as planning and strategy, we are not as far along as we are in air pollution.” Score: 5

* Willard Bascomb, Scripps Institute of Oceanography : “It’s not perfect, but it’s getting better every day. What the numbers have shown for many years . . . is that everything is as good as it’s ever going to be.” Score: 9

TURNING POINTS

* December, 1989--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and San Diego argue in court over the environmental value of requiring secondary treatment of city’s sewage waste water that is dumped in the ocean off Point Loma.

* December, 1989--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to consider Los Angeles County’s request for a waiver from federal law requiring installation of expensive secondary treatment process for sewage waste water that is dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

* February, 1990--Completion of Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project’s assessment of the scale and impact of toxic street runoff on water quality in Santa Monica Bay, with implications for all coastal waters off urbanized Southern California.

* October, 1990--End of congressional moratorium on federal oil leases off the Southern California coast, renewing debate over the risks and benefits of increased development and transportation.

VOICES

“It’s kind of sad and it’s getting worse and worse every day because they just keep polluting it more and more. As you can see, there’s oil and tar in the sand. That didn’t used to be there 10 years ago. Sometimes you go out here and the water will look green like it is now, but you’ll come home with a sore throat, stuffy head. Your ear aches. It’s really sad. Look down the beach and see all the trash here.”

--Surfer Danny Lemaster, 26, of Lawndale

“I’ve been dory fishing for about 12 years, and I haven’t seen much change in the ocean. If anything, the water seems cleaner. Not so much garbage floating around . . . It seems like more people competing for the same amount of fish. Whether the ocean is cleaner or not, hasn’t seemed to slow people’s appetite for fish.

--Newport Beach doryman Rick Breneman

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S COASTAL TOXIC HOT SPOTS

An analysis of coastal waters regularly tasted by the State Water Resources Control Board.

1. PORT HUENEME (OXNARD): Extremely high level of deadly marine-paint residues, and lower but still high levels of cancer-causing insulating compound polychlorinated biphenyls.

2. REVOLON SLOUGH AND MUGU LAGOON: Among highest levels in the state for pesticides and industrial chemicals, threatening important wildlife habitat and making shellfish dangerous to eat.

3. MARINA DEL REY: High level of deadly marine-paint residues, evidence of brain-damaging lead from the burning of leaded gasoline, and notable levels of toxic metal waste.

4. LOS ANGELES AND LONG BEACH HARBORS: Highest level of toxic copper waste ever recorded, potentially toxic levels of other dissolved metals, and high but declining level of the pesticide DDT.

5. ALAMITOS BAY AND COLORADO LAGOON: Detectable amounts of a spider-killing compound, chlorbenside, and a broad-spectrum insecticide, Gamma-HCH; also, elevated level of nerve-damaging lead.

6. ANAHEIM BAY: DDT and other federally outlawed pesticides, as well as dissolved metals in levels high enough to threaten wildlife at the fragile Anaheim naval marsh.

7. NEWPORT BAY: Highest level of deadly marine-paint residue ever detected by the state and elevated amounts of pesticides and cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls.

8. OCEANSIDE HARBOR: Elevated levels of potentially toxic metals, chiefly cadmium and zinc, that are used primarily in the metalplating industry and persist for long periods.

9. SAN DIEGO BAY: Growing level of deadly marine-paint residue, cancer-causing chemical near industrial wastewater outfall, high silver level off Point Loma sewage plant.

SOURCE: State Water Resources Control Board