Testing the Water at Bolsa Chica Is No Tentative Act

Tim Hulett recently visited the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and witnessed an unpleasant sight that compelled him to act.

What he saw was oil and debris that had drifted down the flood-control channel after a recent rainstorm and into the sensitive habitat area.

“It was just garbage. It was disgusting,” said Hulett, 37, a Cypress resident.

Hulett, a marine biology student who for 10 years worked in water quality for the city of Westminster, became a volunteer in the Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s water-testing program.

As part of the conservancy’s science program, volunteers test the water and study plant and animal life at Bolsa Chica. They also help restore native vegetation and participate in the cleanup day to remove debris on the last Saturday of the month.

The volunteers, Hulett said, have a common desire: to help Bolsa Chica remain a healthy ecosystem.

Each Thursday morning, the volunteers collect water samples from seven locations--two in Inner Bolsa Bay, two in Outer Bolsa Bay and three in brackish ponds, said Phil Smith, executive director of the conservancy.

“We want to know what the water quality is at any given time,” Smith said. “The purpose is to have a baseline of data, in case we have an event like an oil spill or storm runoff, to see if there’s a big change in the information.”

The monitoring program was started about five years ago by Councilman Victor Leipzig and his wife, Louann Murray, both of whom are biologists, after the oil spill in February 1990.

On a recent Thursday, volunteer Jim Robins, with bucket in hand, scooped up water from a pond at the ecological reserve. Some water was placed in a sample bottle to take back to the conservancy’s lab for analysis. Drops also were placed into a refractometer, used to immediately measure the water’s salt content.

Smith explained that if the salinity of the marshes drops too low, it could harm the marine animals and the plant life.

In the field, tests also are done to examine water temperature and the water’s oxygen content. At the lab, water samples are tested for clarity and acidity.

Robins said it’s vital that the water testing continue: “It’s important for the health of the area.”

He added that, in anticipation of the wetlands being restored, “we want to know if the water quality changes, for better or worse, during the restoration and after.”