Pay to Clean the Beaches? Most Say Yes

Orange County residents would overwhelmingly support more efforts to clean up beach pollution-- even with their wallets--according to a newly released study.

More than 80% of residents and 91% of registered voters rate beach closures as either a “serious” or “very serious” problem, according to a survey released Tuesday by Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Public Policy and the Orange County Business Council.

Surprisingly, when the 556 respondents were asked who should pay for “beach protection,” 72.5% said all county residents should pay equally, regardless of where they live.

“Elected officials would find enormous support if they ever decided to really get ahead on this issue,” said Keith Boyum, associate vice president for academic programs at the university.

Local officials and environmentalists said frequent news stories about bacteria warnings and beach closures have yielded a greater awareness and appreciation of the problems facing the county’s oceans. And although 61% of respondents said they thought elected officials were handling beach pollution “very well” or “fairly well,” 31% gave “poor” to “very poor” evaluations, the survey found.

Frequent beachgoers rated officials’ performance lower than people who visited the beach less.

“We’re happy to hear these results,” said Christopher Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation. “We strongly feel the public is going to be the ones to get things solved . . . not only because they can put pressure on elected officials, but also because it’s the public that has to take responsibility for helping reduce these problems.”

Officials from Huntington Beach, a surfing mecca that has become a symbol of the travails of beachside pollution, were gratified by the findings. Despite studies that have cost nearly $2 million, the cause of last summer’s tainting of the ocean waters off Huntington Beach remains elusive.

“Once the public comes to understand the relationship between the watershed they live in, urban runoff they help create, and the oceans, it doesn’t surprise me that they recognize that something needs to be done,” said Richard Barnard, Huntington Beach director of communications.

Taxpayers are already footing the bill for everything from the studies to water-quality projects. Orange County may get more than $250 million for improvements to the Santa Ana River watershed now that California voters approved two massive environmental bond measures on the March 7 ballot. And two weeks ago, two county supervisors proposed spending $1.1 million from the county’s general fund--four times what was spent last year--to fight urban runoff and protect sensitive watershed areas.

However, Shirley S. Dettloff, Huntington Beach councilwoman and state coastal commissioner, said that eventually cities might have to ask taxpayers for more support to clean up the beaches. The survey did not directly ask respondents whether they were willing to pay to protect the beaches in the form of taxes or bond measures.

In a study marked by a relative lack of distinctions between respondents’ answers--Republicans and Democrats polled pretty much the same--women were more likely to consider beach closures a serious problem. Although 67% of men felt all residents should pay to fix the problem, 79% of women felt that way, according to the survey.

Asian residents surveyed were less sure that everyone should pay: 53% felt it was everyone’s responsibility, compared to 79.2% of Latinos and 78% of whites. The number of African Americans and Native Americans polled in the random sample was too small to be statistically significant. Runoff of polluted water and waste was regarded as the most important factor in beach pollution by 98% of respondents.

Beach closures and bacteria warnings can cost the county and its cities millions of dollars a year and put a serious dent in Orange County’s attractiveness to not only tourists but businesses, said Wallace Walrod, vice president of research and communications for the Orange County Business Council.

He cited a nationwide April survey of more than 100 CEOs. Asked to identify Orange County’s strengths as a location to attract businesses, “access to the beach was No. 1,” Walrod said. “They like to work hard and play hard.”