Castaic Lake Remains Off Limits to Swimmers Because of Bacteria

You can gaze at it, ski on it or picnic next to it, but don’t let it fool you.

Inviting as Castaic Lake’s sparkling blue water appears, it’s strictly off limits to swimmers eager to escape the heat this Labor Day weekend.

Beaches that typically attracted 25,000 visitors on holiday weekends have been deserted since August, 1992, because of a stubborn bacterial contamination problem that more than $100,000 in county funds hasn’t been able to solve.

The once-popular destination “is now like a ghost town,” said Mike Hargett, superintendent of the Castaic Lake Recreation Area. Although boating is still allowed, the ban on swimming has meant that about 309,000 fewer people visited the area since the beaches were closed than in past summers.

And fewer visitors have meant less money for local merchants and cash-starved Los Angeles County, which operates the 8,000-acre, state-owned recreation area. Reeling from losses of about $500,000 since the beaches were closed, county officials are scrambling to come up with new ways to attract visitors to the lake.

“We used to bitch about the city people coming up here back when we could pay our bills,” said Steve Gallion, whose family owns a local gas station and convenience store. “Now I wish they were all back. We need those people back.”

There is little hope of reopening the swimming areas in the near future because the county cannot spare any more money to try to reduce high levels of bacteria from human waste and sources in the water that occur with heavy use, Hargett said.

The problem dates back to 1983, when the county spent $40,000 to install an underwater aerator that failed to solve the problem. Since then, the county has installed another aerator, spent $40,000 on another device that failed and tried to limit the number of swimmers.

Nothing worked except eliminating swimming altogether.

To attract more non-swimmers, the county has recently opened a lakeside motocross track, allowed jet-skiers to use the former swimming areas and held special events like concerts and fishing derbies with the help of a nonprofit citizens group called Friends of Castaic Lake. Officials are hoping that a country-Western “jam” sponsored by the group and featuring singer Lacy J. Dalton will raise at least $10,000 this Sunday.

County officials have also dreamed up or revived old ideas that would radically change the character of the area. For instance, they want to turn a now-vacant, state-owned visitors center atop a bluff overlooking the lake into a “fancy restaurant,” Hargett said. Negotiations are beginning between the state, which wants to sell the building for $850,000, and the county, which wants it for free so it can lease it to a restaurateur for a percentage of the profits.

Officials are also trying to interest an amusement park like Raging Waters in building a facility near the lake. They cooked up the idea in the mid-1980s, but it languished because theme-park operators wanted a separate entrance, which the county could not provide because of heavy traffic from beach-goers. The county is now preparing to begin seeking other potential operators for the water-slide park.

Despite the yearlong ban, visitors still show up occasionally at the park expecting to swim.

“I figured it would be nice and quiet, but not this quiet,” said Carmen Morales, 46, a Woodland Hills office manager who drove about 30 miles to the lake Friday.

“Instead of swimming, I went to the bathroom and stood under the cold shower to cool off.”