Grand Jury Has Ideas to Cut Closures at Beaches

Reacting to costly closures of large stretches of local beach last summer, the Orange County Grand Jury on Tuesday recommended hiring two staff members and adding a new information system to the beleaguered county agency that monitors coastal pollution.

“Huge numbers of tourist dollars and many local jobs are put at risk when beach water is considered unsafe for recreational use,” the grand jury’s report said.

By far the most widely publicized and economically damaging of last year’s beach closures was that of eight miles of Huntington Beach from July 1 through Labor Day. With the source of that pollution still a mystery, and continued intermittent closures, “it’s an issue that’s on everybody’s lips right now,” said Karen Evarts, a grand jury spokeswoman.

The report calls for hiring an experienced lead microbiologist for the Orange County Health Care Agency’s public health lab, whose job would include developing a database of pollution-causing bacteria common in Orange County. The report also calls for hiring an analyst for the agency’s environmental health division to help analyze ocean-water test data. Lastly, the grand jury recommended installation of up-to-date computer technology enabling health officials to better post the most current beach closure and reopening information.

According to Pat Markey, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency, the two new staff positions have already been approved by the county Board of Supervisors, and should be filled in the next several months.

The updated information technology system, she said, is in the early stages of a bidding process that should result in a contract by March.

“They are definitely good ideas,” Markey said, “and we were already moving on them.”

Existing staff is still analyzing the source of the pollution that forced the closure of much of Huntington Beach last summer, causing economic hardship to many area businesses.