Sewage Can’t Compete With Lure of Waves

Tell-tale trails of white foam drifting atop the waves told Ken McCrobie that sewage had polluted his favorite surfing strip along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard near Ocean Beach.

But the 46-year-old San Diego native went in anyway.

“Everybody has a passion in life, and this is our passion, this is our golf or jogging,” said McCrobie, who is a captain with the San Diego Fire Department when he’s not in the water.

McCrobie and dozens of other surfers ignored posted signs that warned beach-goers that the water had been contaminated by a spill of treated sewage from a ruptured sewage pipe two miles away that is dumping up to 180 million gallons of effluent into the water every day.

County health officials have warned that the leaking sewage poses serious health risks for surfers, divers and swimmers, including eye infections, gastroenteritis, skin rashes, dysentery and hepatitis.

“Yeah, but the waves are good,” said 46-year-old Don Rickert as he waxed his 9 1/2-foot Diffenderfer board.

Rickert swears by this stretch of coast where a series of reefs, large kelp beds and a northwest-facing beach make for some of the best-shaped waves in Southern California during late fall and winter.

And now is one of the best times of the year for surfing. The National Weather Service expects a storm today to bring even higher surf, from 4 to 7 feet.

“All of Sunset Cliffs is the best surf spot in Southern California. Sure, there are other places, but here, it’s just break after break after break,” said Rickert, who goes surfing nearly every day.

Bob Hoover has been surfing Sunset Cliffs for more than 20 years, and to him it’s worth the risk.

“To us, this is such a beautiful area. We’re in the middle of paradise. My retreat is to come down here and enjoy this. It’s a big part of my life, as it is for all of us,” said the 41-year-old furniture manufacturer.

Most of those who braved the polluted waters said they noticed no difference in the water Wednesday than in previous days, and if there were more definite signs of health hazards, they would heed them.

“If it were raw sewage, that would be different,” said Tom Chapman, who has been surfing for 36 of his 48 years.

Chapman and other surfers believe they have had to tolerate polluted waters on and off for years, and the recent spill has merely been large enough to get people’s attention.

“I think there’s something wrong with the water, but I’ve thought that for a long time, and it hasn’t hurt yet,” Chapman said.

Patrick Stewart laid his board down next to an orange sign that read “DANGER: CONTAMINATED WATER. KEEP OUT.”

“I can’t smell or see anything out there, and it has been worse when it wasn’t supposed to be contaminated. I’ve seen it a lot murkier before,” said the 23-year-old cook for a local vegetarian restaurant.

County health officials said they have posted the beach in the past because of contamination from the nearby pump station, but the spill this time is many times worse.

On Wednesday, the current was flowing south, away from the Sunset Cliffs surfers, but that could change any time, particularly with the onset of a storm, said Gary Stephany, the county director of environmental health services.

“It’s upsetting to say the least. This is probably the best surfing we’ve had in 10 years,” lamented Gerald Barstow, a 44-year-old dentist who arranges his schedule so he can surf during the day.

Many of the surfers hope the sewage spill will spur the city into taking the problem of polluted water along the coast more seriously.

“Too much is coming out about it now, and tourism is a big industry here, and if it gets out that you can’t go into the water, why would anyone want to come out here any more?” McCrobie said.