Beach Pollution Study Delayed Again

Huntington Beach and county officials have again put off releasing results of studies to find out how the city’s beaches keep being contaminated with bacteria-laden water.

The results were to have been released in early July but will now come out in September, officials said Thursday at a meeting to discuss Summer Action Plan 2000, a series of measures to curb pollution after a series of beach closures last summer.

Huntington Beach spokesman Rich Barnard gave the same reason officials have stated before: The release was delayed because the findings are complicated and must be evaluated by a panel of five scientists.

“When the information is released, not only do we have the experts do the study but review the methodologies used to make sure the results are solid and based on good science,” he said.

While environmentalists agree the information should be reviewed carefully, they had hoped it would be released in time to improve conditions for beachgoers this season. Much of the scientific work was expected before the Fourth of July weekend. Then the release was postponed until mid-July and now past Labor Day weekend.

“I hope they can get their peer reviewing done before all the summer elapses, because I think this would be useful to look at,” said Christopher Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation.

Despite about $5 million spent on studies and construction for Summer Action Plan 2000, officials said the source of the contamination remains a mystery. Bacteria levels have exceeded state-mandated levels in July, with warnings about contaminated water at one time posted along a two-mile stretch of Huntington Beach’s coastline.

On Thursday a stretch of Huntington State Beach from 500 feet north of Newland Street to 500 feet south of Magnolia Street remained posted with signs warning swimmers that health standards had been violated.

Vicki Wilson, director of Orange County’s Public Facilities and Resources Department, has coordinated the cleanup effort and maintains that water quality had been improved by blocking urban runoff into the ocean.

Her department is using $2 million in state funds allocated for the cleanup of Huntington Beach to filter runoff through a system of temporary dams and pumps, a plan first viewed as a short-term fix but now being considered for the long term. “We have made a difference,” Wilson said at Thursday’s session. “Five years from now, we’re going to know a whole lot more about this issue.”

Previously, officials thought the diversion would be temporary because they expected to have the problem solved by next summer.

The $2 million, plus $4 million from a state bond measure approved in March, will be used to build permanent dams, pumps and filters; to reimburse the county $276,000 for this summer’s diversion effort; and for DNA testing of bacteria to determine the source of the contamination.

Construction of county projects will begin next year, officials said.

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Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.