Waste Drum Hits Shore in Encinitas

A 5-gallon container of hydraulic fluid with a military-type label was found floating in the surf in Encinitas on Friday morning, temporarily closing Moonlight Beach and sending two Encinitas maintenance workers to the hospital with minor skin irritations, officials said. Linda Miller, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Hazardous Waste Task Force, said the container’s label read in part “ANTOWN, U.S.S.” She said an investigation is under way to determine the source of the container, but she said the county health department was guessing it may have come from the Germantown, a dock-landing ship based at the 32nd Street Naval Station.

Noting that the container marked the fourth deposit of hazardous waste to foul local beaches in recent weeks, Miller also issued a warning to San Diegans.

“We should warn beach-goers to be very careful in general,” she said. “Watch carefully where you walk. Don’t touch anything you don’t recognize. If anything looks the least bit suspicious, go get the lifeguards. Watch your children carefully. Know what they’re picking up.”

Chief Petty Officer Martin W. Wicklund, a Navy spokesman, acknowledged that hydraulic fluid is commonly used on Navy ships. He said he would have to await the results of the inquiry to determine if the Navy was involved.

The Encinitas Fire Department responded to a call from local lifeguards at about 10 a.m. Friday, said Tom Borgeson, a Fire Department spokesman. A group of surfers had spotted the dark-green metal bucket bobbing in the tide, he said. It was covered with barnacles, indicating it had been in the water for some time.

More than 20 emergency personnel from Encinitas, Del Mar, San Dieguito and the city of San Diego’s Hazardous Waste Materials Team responded to the incident, which kept Moonlight Beach closed until shortly after noon.

The two maintenance men who removed the bucket from the surf complained of itching after they touched the fluid. They were decontaminated at the scene, then treated briefly at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas. Four surfers who were in the water near where the container was found were also sent to local hospitals as a precaution but were promptly released.