Beaches Reopen, but Sewage Runoff Causes Concern

County health officials Tuesday reopened all but four miles of Los Angeles County beaches closed over the weekend after nearly 8 million gallons of minimally treated sewage surged into Santa Monica Bay during heavy storms.

However, environmentalists, lifeguards and even the superintendent of the city’s sewage treatment plant cautioned surfers and bathers to consider staying out of the water for at least another day or two because of pollution of another sort: storm sewer runoff.

“There is contamination from whatever gets thrown in the gutter in a large urban area,” said Hyperion Treatment Plant superintendent Don Goodroe. “I personally wouldn’t go swimming for three days after a storm.”

“I wouldn’t advise going back in yet,” echoed Bob Sulnick, executive director of the American Oceans Campaign, an environmental group. “The bay is becoming a toxic cocktail. It’s like injecting poison into one’s bloodstream.”

At this point, experts say, no routine tests are conducted to determine the levels of petroleum-based runoff, heavy metals, animal fecal matter and other pollutants that are carried into the surf through storm sewers and streets during heavy storms like those last weekend. Catherine Tyrrell, director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project, said Tuesday that her government-funded agency is developing a storm drain monitoring program as part of its efforts to clean up the bay.

“We generally recommend that people not swim near storm drains after storms,” Tyrrell said Tuesday. “It’s one of those things that is . . . more of a gut reaction. Stay out of the water a couple more days.

“We know if there are problems in the bay for swimmers, it’s most likely because of what’s coming down from storm drains during rainy periods when we’re getting the runoff from all the freeways and roadways and everything else that’s contaminated with pollution.”

Those who have ignored health warnings to swim in sewage-plagued waters risk skin ailments, diarrhea and other effects of virus-causing fecal bacteria.

The risks from storm sewer runoff are less clear, experts said, because of the variability of pollutants and the lack of sufficient monitoring.

Last Saturday, authorities intentionally diverted sewage into Ballona Creek, north of Playa del Rey, to prevent it from backing up and overflowing into city streets during the heavy rains. Before reaching the creek, the otherwise raw pollutants received a heavy dose of chlorine at a treatment facility near Jackson Street in Culver City which has been in operation since 1986.

After conducting lab tests for coliform bacteria, which results from sewage spills, county health officials Tuesday reopened 14 miles of coastline from the Santa Monica-Venice line north to Topanga Beach and from El Segundo south to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Remaining closed until at least today were four miles of beach from Venice south to Grand Avenue in El Segundo, near where the millions of gallons of sewage flowed into the bay over the weekend from the nearby Hyperion plant.

Lab samples taken Monday showed coliform counts--which do not take into account most pollutants from storm sewers--well within the suitable range, except in the vicinity of Ballona, said Jack Petralia, director of environmental protection for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

A $150-million sewer line from Culver City to the Hyperion plant, which would significantly increase the city’s sewage capacity, is scheduled to be completed in 1993. Goodroe, the Hyperion superintendent, said that the five-mile, 12-foot-wide North Outfall Relief Sewer will provide enough additional capacity to avoid future spills like the one last weekend.

In the meantime, any similar storms are expected to result in similar spills because of flooding of the city’s antiquated sewer pipes. “This is something we’re going to continue to have until the capacity, particularly at Hyperion, is increased,” Ted Reed, county Department of Beaches and Harbors director, told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

Lifeguards reported Tuesday afternoon that beach use was low after the 11 a.m. reopening. But environmental fears may not have been the cause.

“A lot of it has to do with the fact that there is very little surf,” said county Lifeguard Lt. Steve Wood.