Hunt for Beach Pollution Source Gains

As Orange County health officials reopened a portion of the shoreline here Monday, experts said they believe they have pinpointed a nearby channel as the possible source of a mysterious sewage leak.

After spending $400,000 in high-tech sleuthing over the past two months, experts put two cases of grapefruits and oranges--70 in all--into the Talbert Channel and then watched.

The fruit floated into the ocean and bobbed along currents into the same area where a sewage plume was first discovered at Huntington State Beach near Newland Street--the area still showing the highest level of bacteria.

Experts hope the results will allow them to focus on the channel, said Michelle Tuchman, an Orange County Sanitation District spokeswoman.

“The test at least helped us identify the flow pattern coming down from Talbert Channel, and it tells us that anything floating from there does indeed come [to the Newland area],” she said.

Scientists also spent the day taking bacteria and nutrient samples from the channel and the ocean. Results will not be available for a few days, but should help determine whether the channel is the culprit, said Burt Jones, a USC associate professor of biology working with the Sanitation District.

A drop in bacteria levels Monday at the northern edge of the 4.2-mile length of closed beach allowed officials to reopen nearly half a mile of shoreline to swimming and other water activity. The area is between 10th and Goldenwest streets.

But more than 3 1/2 miles south of 10th Street to the Santa Ana River remain closed as a task force of local, state and federal officials looks for a cause.

With the normally busy Labor Day weekend fast approaching, county health officials said they are looking at test data to determine if more areas can be reopened and a buffer still maintained to protect the public’s health.

“We are looking at whether the area north of the [Huntington Beach] pier should be opened, provided the data support that the public’s health comes first,” said Larry Honeybourne, chief of the Water Quality Section of the county Health Care Agency.

The only beach areas where bacteria levels have gone down are north of the city pier, Honeybourne said. Levels are still high south of the pier, especially at Huntington State Beach near Newland Street.

The fruit launch, suggested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is aimed at better pinpointing the flow of water from what could be the source for the contamination.

“This helps us follow the path of the water, that is, to check the ocean currents, by following the floating fruit,” Tuchman said.

For more than a week, technical experts have focused on the Talbert Channel, a concrete-lined culvert that fills with urban runoff. Three city-owned pumping stations that push storm water and urban runoff into the channel could be possible sources of the contamination, said Michael Moore, a Sanitation District official.

Oranges and grapefruits have been used as tracers of oil during oil spills. The fruit floats low in the water and is unaffected by wind. Scientists assume that it follows the path of the current.

The Surfrider Foundation, a San Clemente-based preservation group, said the Huntington Beach incident highlights a need for a national water quality program.

“It was water quality testing that caught this,” said Chris Evans, Surfrider’s executive director.