Cities Seeking a Cure for Beach Pollution

By SEEMA MEHTA

April 16, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

With the approach of the summer tourist season--and the one-year anniversary of the beach closure that devastated Huntington Beach’s economy--local officials’ thoughts are increasingly turning to diversions.

Not whimsical thoughts of fun in the sun, but diverting storm drains to keep bacteria-laden urban runoff from hitting Orange County’s picturesque 42-mile coastline.

Storm-water diversions, though considered a Band-Aid measure that fails to address the root problem of reducing residential, commercial and industrial runoff, are becoming increasingly popular to ensure that beaches continue to draw 35 million annual visitors--and the tourist dollars they bring.

Storm-water diversions “are a good idea, so long as people understand they have serious limits,” said Christopher J. Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation, based in San Clemente. “If these things are lulling anybody to sleep on this issue, let me take this opportunity to wake them up. Diversions are not going to solve the problem in the long term.”

Urban runoff is the brew of trash, animal waste, pesticides, oil and other pollutants washed from streets and lawns into storm drains, and then into storm channels or area waterways, eventually flowing into the ocean.

Surfers and swimmers throughout Orange County are advised to avoid ocean water near storm channels or creek mouths because of the health risks associated with urban runoff. Swimming in water contaminated by bacteria and pathogens from runoff can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and respiratory, ear, nose and eye problems, said Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.

A USC study of Santa Monica Bay found that beach visitors who swim near storm drains are almost 50% more likely to contract colds, sore throats and other illnesses than those who swim farther away.

With beaches the lifeblood of seaside towns, coastal cities throughout the state are beginning to try to deal with the problem. Natural terrain can absorb, slow and filter runoff. But as open space is developed, as is happening rapidly in South County, there is too little such land filtering at work.

Laguna Beach is among a handful of pioneers in that effort. Steve May, director of engineering and sewage services and a city engineer, said Laguna started its partial diversion of urban runoff in 1983. He said it expects to have 90% of its 50 significant storm channels diverted to treatment facilities within two years.

Orange County and five coastal cities recently sought $1.2 million from various sources to pay for as many as 30 storm-drain and pump-station diversions from Huntington Beach to San Clemente. Pushed by Supervisor Tom Wilson, the county chipped in $250,000 in matching grants, said Larry Paul, the county’s manager of coastal facilities.

He said the diversions are a short-term fix that allows the county and cities to look for long-term solutions.

“All they’re doing is responding to the needs right now,” Paul said. “There are efforts underway through [federally funded] watershed studies to get to the cause. But, in the meantime, we should do something.”

A local legislator has introduced a bill requiring the state to help local agencies pay for costs associated with diverting summer flows from storm-water discharges to sewage treatment facilities. Assembly Minority Leader Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) wants the state to offer $50 million in matching grants to local agencies for creating storm-water diversions.

“The bill represents a perfect marriage between the environmental community and the business community,” he said. “Both have the same goal of having clean ocean waters--clean for the environment and clean for the swimmers and surfers who are the heart and soul of the economy in Huntington Beach.”

Baugh said he wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the problem until the two-month closure in Huntington Beach last summer. As he studied the issue, he learned that many coastal areas, including San Diego and the Bay Area, are grappling with the same problem.

Although most environmentalists and officials agree that diversions are necessary short-term solutions, some fear local leaders will become complacent and less likely to pursue the sources of runoff.

“Caring is a really essential part of it,” said Wayne Baglin, chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. “When you get free money, you have the tendency to spend it in a rather liberal fashion. If you have to pay out of your own pocketbook, you’re more keen on [finding] the best way to do this, and the most cost-efficient way to do this.”

Environmentalists also see diversions as an “end-of-the-pipe” solution. They note that the federal Clean Water Act forbids cities and counties from discharging polluted water.

“I support efforts to deal with the issue and fund it,” said David Beckman, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Los Angeles office. “[But] to a great extent, I think you have to be careful not to consider that to be a one-stop answer for the issue.

“If you’re on the beach, it’s a good thing. [But] that’s not to say that it gets cities or other industrial entities off the hook for creating the problem. You have to be very careful to realize what diversion does . . . and doesn’t do for you. It’s definitely not--from a legal perspective and from a policy perspective--the entire answer.”

The true solution, Baglin said, is stopping people from sending pollutants into the environment, even if it means having city workers go from neighborhood to neighborhood, issuing notices to homeowners whose lawns are overwatered.

Meanwhile, sanitation officials are grappling with the sheer volume of the diversions that may be coming their way. Treatment facilities can handle only so much extra effluent, and the county’s largest--the Orange County Sanitation District--is expected to release a stricter policy on diversions this month.

For example, certain areas contain harmful naturally occurring substances in their ground water that treatment plants cannot process. In the Aliso Creek watershed, the ground water contains manganese that would hurt the local treatment plant, Baglin said. In one area of San Diego County, arsenic levels are high.

Most treatment facilities were not designed to receive runoff and don’t have the capacity to take it during the rainy winter months. Runoff tends to be at its most contaminated after a long dry period, when piled sediment and pollutants are flushed into waterways.

Such problems are why Baglin says diversions are akin to emergency medical treatment.

“When you go into the emergency room because of a bad injury, they may put a tourniquet on you. That is an initial measure to help you,” he said. “But obviously, you can’t keep the tourniquet on--the limb would die. We can’t keep this tourniquet on, we can’t keep diverting the pollution. It won’t remain status quo; it will overwhelm.”

FACING SANCTIONS

Laguna Beach, water district may be fined for spills. B3

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Source of Pollution

* Paint: Peeling off houses; dumped or spilled

* Fertilizers: Used on lawns

* Pesticides: Used in gardens

* Motor oil: Poured down drains

* Parking lots: Oil and antifreeze leaking from cars

* Metal structures: Chipping and flaking of zinc, chromium

* Automobiles: Copper from brake pads; rubber and zinc from tires; exhaust

* Septic tanks: Leaking or faulty parts