Results Mixed on Pollution of Beaches

After two months of testing for pollution in surf, officials have some good news and some bad news.

Hundreds of tests conducted since the water-quality program began Jan. 19 have led to a dozen postings warning people to stay out of the ocean. The good news is that is fewer than expected, particularly in the middle of winter when pollution usually peaks. And it means beaches along the county’s 42-mile coast have been open far more often than they have been closed this year.

Fifty-three samples are taken at the most popular beaches each week, and warnings are posted urging people to stay out of the water when bacteria levels exceed health-based limits.

“The results have been very, very good, very encouraging,” said Richard Hauge, coordinator of the county-run program.

But there is bad news too. Chronic pollution appears to plague two beaches frequented by surfers and children. The beaches: Surfers Point in Ventura and the swim beach at Channel Islands Harbor, also known as the “kiddy beach.” Big waves lure scores of surfers into the water for hours at a time at Surfers Point, while still waters make the latter a favorite splash zone for toddlers.

The kiddy beach, situated at the end of Victoria Avenue, and Surfers Point, near the Ventura River mouth, have each been closed four times in the past seven weeks, more than any other beaches in the county. Big yellow signs bearing red letters spell out the hazard: “Warning: Contaminated Water. Urban runoff storm--drain water may cause illness.”

Other sites where excessive contamination has led to beach postings are McGrath State Beach in Oxnard, Promenade Park in Ventura and Point Mugu State Beach.

Lali Flores took her 3-year-old daughter, Pamy, to the kiddy beach Friday, but didn’t stay long once she saw the signs.

“I didn’t know about it. What’s wrong with the water?” Flores asked, keeping her child away from the gently lapping waves.

Dragging her yellow kayak out of the cove and up the swim beach, Laura Finney of Oxnard glanced at the signs and wondered what’s the point. “I see kids here all the time playing in the water,” she said. “I don’t think it deters anyone.”

Warning signs were removed later Friday after the water was retested and found to be acceptable, health officials said.

Pinpointing the source of beach pollution is difficult because contaminants come from so many diffuse sources.

Storm drains are believed to be the most likely culprit, carrying runoff from farms, city streets and residential yards into streams that drain into the ocean. The waters can carry a load of infectious agents capable of causing earaches, rashes, diarrhea and severe abdominal pain.

Channel Islands Harbor Master Jack Peveler said he is concerned that the presence of lifeguards, parking and buoy lines at the kiddy beach may be making the site an attractive nuisance. He said he has asked the Ventura County Environmental Health Division to assist in identifying where the contamination is coming from as a first step toward cleaning it up.

“Everything eventually ends up in the harbor,” Peveler said. “The problem is there [at the kiddy beach], and we’re asking why.”

Glen Kent, water quality coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation of Ventura County, said county beachgoers can thank the mild winter for the relatively low number of beach advisories this year. Pollution levels at Southern California beaches typically soar when storms wash pollution off the land and into streams and storm drains before dumping it into the ocean.

Rainfall is about one-quarter of normal this season along the Ventura County coast. Barely 3 1/2 inches of rain have fallen since October, meteorologist Bruce Rockwell of the National Weather Service said.

“We’re seeing a lot of open beaches because of a mild winter,” Kent said.