NEWPORT BEACH : Surfrider Event Will Take to Streets to Support Ocean Testing

This coastal town plays host to a number of 5K races every year, but none set out to help ensure ocean water quality.

Until now.

The Surfrider Foundation and a city agency will sponsor the Bay to Beach 5K run-walk Oct. 14 to raise money for the testing of coastal water for bacterial contaminants.

Proceeds from the race will benefit the environmental organization and the city, which agreed to help fund the testing after the county’s Environmental Management Agency scrapped the tests this year because of county bankruptcy-related budget cuts.

The idea for the race came from the city’s Harbor Quality Committee, whose members were distressed with the news that testing would stop.

The Environmental Management Agency had been testing for coliform bacteria, which can cause conjunctivitis and other ailments, from Seal Beach to San Clemente since 1971. But the testing, conducted at 120 sites at a cost of $180,000 a year, was eliminated in January to save money.

The agency later restructured its budget and with the help of private donations resumed testing at 80 sites in May. Surfrider and coastal cities agreed to raise money to restore the testing at the 40 other sites and increase the likelihood that testing would continue next year.

The lack of testing “just lit a fire” to do a race that some in the area have longed to start, said Nancy Gardner, a spokeswoman for the local Surfrider chapter.

“When we sat down we asked, ‘Can we do a 5K?’ With all of the attention that has been paid to the bankruptcy and the testing, we just thought that we would lose the momentum” if we waited.

The idea quickly won support from businesses and community groups, Gardner said.