It’s a Fact: The Beach Is Back

Beach-goers who avoided bacteria-laden waters off Huntington Beach last year are returning in droves this Fourth of July weekend, buoying optimistic city officials and merchants who said Monday that the summer tourist season is off to a booming start.

“I love the beach, and I support my Huntington Beach,” said Carol Jackson, as she set up snacks for her family under a tent Monday afternoon on the state beach near Magnolia Street. Last year, she and her family headed south to Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and San Diego to avoid the pollution that closed various stretches of shoreline for about two months. Despite some lingering worries, Jackson said they came back to Huntington because of local officials’ resolve to fix the problem.

The 8.5-mile coast of Huntington Beach attracts about 10 million visitors annually. Today, as many as 25,000 people are expected at Huntington State Beach, another 20,000 at Bolsa Chica State Beach and another 50,000 at Huntington City Beach. Though numbers from this past weekend weren’t available late Monday, city officials and merchants said the coastline has been thronged with beach-goers--a welcome sight after last summer’s empty beaches.

The cause of last year’s closure of more than four miles of prime ocean in Huntington Beach remains a mystery, despite the $5 million spent by the city, county and Orange County Sanitation District on investigations. Researchers believe the cause may be urban runoff from Talbert Marsh and the Santa Ana River. In an effort timed to coincide with the busy tourist season, the city, county and sanitation district are diverting 2.5-million gallons of runoff a day to a sewage treatment plant.

These efforts seem to be working. Bacteria levels were rising in April, worrying health officials who saw similar conditions before last year’s closure. But in recent weeks, nearly all monitoring stations in Huntington Beach have been meeting health standards.

Swimmers still are being warned to avoid 300 feet of ocean at Magnolia Street. Though the water has been meeting health standards for many days, it remains posted because the average monthly level of enterococcus, a bacteria found in the waste of mammals and shorebirds, exceeds health standards.

Larry Honeybourne, spokesman for the Orange County Health Care Agency, said the warning could come down in two days if recent water quality holds. Elsewhere in the city, “so far we have not seen any significant numbers at all out there. If anything, they’re turning downward,” he said.

“I guess we’re relieved,” city spokesman Rich Barnard said. “It’s great. We were down there all day [Sunday], and we had great time with lots of music and people roller-blading, playing volleyball, sunning themselves, going in the water and swimming.”

Beth McClymonds, owner of the Beach Hut, said business this summer is off to one of the best starts she’s seen in years. The 73-year-old woman has lived in the city for nearly six decades and run the food stand for the past 24 years.

Last year was “devastating”--her sales were down more than 80% and she had to cut workers’ hours. “It was a loss, a bad loss, one of the worst I’ve ever seen,” she said.

She said water quality must be improved, not because of business woes, but because of the importance of a clean and healthy ocean.

“Nobody would want dirty water--it’s our ocean,” she said. “I’m not about to put my grandchildren or anyone else’s in dirty water.”

McClymonds added that the city has a vested interest to make sure last year’s closures are not repeated. “The city cares a lot. It’s money in the bank. And it’s their reputation.”