Are Beach Warnings Adequate?

Like the small print on a pack of cigarettes, the posted warnings are inconspicuous--and dire: You could get sick swimming in the water off many Orange County beaches.

A new state law requires local authorities to display health warnings when bacterial counts reach unsafe levels, even when the problem isn’t bad enough to close a beach.

But the law doesn’t say the signs have to be large or easy to spot. So, many swimmers and surfers at Huntington State Beach, Doheny State Beach and other popular spots frolic unaware in waves teeming with bacteria from contaminated streams and even raw sewage.

Health officials say they are doing all they can under the new posting law. But activists, while conceding that safeguards have improved, question whether the law goes far enough--and whether it gives coastal communities dependent on tourism dollars too much say in how to carry it out.

“There’s enormous local pressure to leave the beach open,” said Linda Sheehan of the national Center for Marine Conservation.

The issue has even divided some environmentalists, who are trying to balance concerns over public health, individual rights and access to the county’s most breathtaking public resource.

A state law that took effect last summer requires counties to regularly test ocean water for the three types of bacteria indicating that pathogens--or disease-causing agents--may be present. These bacteria can come from several sources, including human and animal waste, decaying vegetation and soil.

The law says local health officials must close beaches if raw sewage reaches the water. They have discretion, however, to simply post signs warning of high bacteria levels if they find that standards were violated because of urban runoff--water from lawns and streets bearing chemicals and other waste.

“With sewage-contaminated water, the presumption is you are dealing with human pathogens,” said Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency. “With runoff, the presumption is you may be dealing with human pathogens.”

Contact with sewage-tainted water can lead to gastrointestinal, respiratory, eye, ear, nose and throat problems, as well as rashes. Though there is less information and less certainty about runoff-related illness, a landmark 1996 USC study of Santa Monica Bay found that those who swim in the ocean near storm drains--the freeways used by urban runoff to reach the ocean--are almost 50% more likely to contract colds, sore throats and other illnesses than those who swim farther away.

Such known health risks prompt some activists to push for a policy of closing beaches with high bacteria levels regardless of whether sewage or runoff is the reason.

“If the test is flunked, then the test is flunked,” said David Beckman, a Natural Resources Defense Council attorney. “What we’re talking about . . . is public health, and particularly the health of children, who are getting out of school and will be using the beaches more and more.”

As of Friday, 10 spots along Orange County’s picturesque 42-mile shoreline were marked by local health officials with red-and-black-bordered fiberboard signs labeled “WARNING!” and “AVISO!” At these beaches, including chronic trouble spots such as Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, bacteria standards have been exceeded but there are no sewage spills.

Public Health Before Commerce

Sometimes officials close beaches even without a known sewage spill. The most notable case came last summer at Huntington Beach, when officials closed more than four miles of shoreline for two months while searching for the cause of extremely high bacteria levels. Extensive testing has since ruled out sewage as a cause, but the beach may be closed again this summer if levels are the same as last year’s, Mazur said.

“We try to be sensitive to everything going on in a beach community, but our first and foremost duty is to protect public health,” she said.

This discretion worries both local officials and environmentalists--for different reasons. Last year, Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) urged county health officials to open the beach after bacteria levels had dipped but before the officials were confident about water quality. Health officials won praise from activists for standing their ground; however, there is concern that this will not always be the case, and concern about the fuzzy line separating postings from closures.

“I think the system we have set up is basically right, particularly in Orange County,” said Christopher J. Evans, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation, based in San Clemente. “We don’t see our Health Care Agency bending to politics. Having said that, those of us who use the water every day really don’t care what the source [of bacteria] is. If it’s dirty, we lean toward closing it.”

He acknowledged that closures hurt economies of coastal cities that thrive on income from the county’s 35 million annual visitors.

“There’s no question about it: There’s inherent tension between commerce and beach postings,” he said. That tension should drive efforts to clean up the water by making it clear “the economic engine that is the coast is precious to commerce.”

Before passage of the law mandating regular testing, water quality monitoring varied among counties. Those that tested and reported high bacteria counts invited bad publicity, while those that didn’t got much less attention. The bill was designed to level the playing field in the interest of public health.

State officials are creating guidelines for consistent application of the law. Robin McCraw, an environmental specialist with the State Water Resources Control Board, said these guidelines, which are not requirements, advise counties to close beaches in cases without sewage spills if more than one type of bacteria exceed health standards for three consecutive samples or 20% of samples in 30 days.

Mark Gold, director of Heal the Bay, said spots plagued by chronic pollution ought to be closed, but adds that people should have the right to decide whether to visit a beach that only occasionally violates standards.

“In that area, there’s a huge amount of debate in the health and environmental communities,” he said. Heal the Bay holds that “at a minimum, the public has a right to know that a beach is contaminated.”

Activists and beach users say warning signs are sometimes inconspicuous.

“That’s been one of the main criticisms of a lot of local governments,” said Beckman of the National Resources Defense Council.

“Many times, when beaches are posted with a sign at a parking lot, if you don’t look at the right direction at the right time, you may be completely oblivious to the warning,” he said. “It really is a legitimate question not just in Orange County but in other places about the way in which beaches are protected.”

Several visitors to Huntington State Beach on Friday, for example, had no idea that a jump in bacteria levels has created a health risk in the water. Warnings are visible only to visitors who have paid $6, parked and made it onto the sand. There, the signs, about the size of no-parking signs, are stuck into the ground at discreet intervals.

“My kids were right there--that’s scary,” said Deanne Martin of Park City, Utah, when the signs were pointed out to her. “We’ve been to this beach quite a few times,” said Martin as she left the beach with her husband, 4-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son. “This makes me more likely to look [for warnings]--or maybe go to a different beach.”

Shelli Perri of Salt Lake City was wading knee-deep in the ocean at Huntington State Beach when she learned of the high bacteria counts there.

“Oh, that little thing?” she asked when a warning sign was pointed out to her. “They should be big posters that say swimming in the ocean is hazardous to your health. The public needs to be aware of all the conditions so they can make an informed decision on whether to get in the water or not.”

Mazur said county health officials, in placing the signs, are not influenced by concern that they will hurt the county’s image or economy. The main consideration is that vandals will steal those that are easily reached, she said.

Report Cards Available on Health of Beaches

Even if they were more visible, beach users often don’t pay attention to signs or care about the warnings, she said. “I’ve talked to surfers on the beach and informed them--’You know, you’re swimming [where] a 3-[million] to 7-million-gallon sewage spill [occurred].’ They look at me, look at the waves and go ‘OK,’ walk away and go surfing.”

Activists say they fight ignorance and apathy by publicizing the plight of coastal waters. Heal the Bay releases report cards rating the health of local beaches and posts data on its Web site, https://www.healthebay.org/baymap. The National Resources Defense Council publishes an annual report on beach closings, and the county has a beach closure hotline at (714) 667-3752.

For all that, however, Orange County’s beaches are full of people like Dwayne Adams of Orange and Steve Fleming of Costa Mesa, who were “bummed out” when they learned of the posting at Huntington State Beach. As they sat on the sand with their surfboards, they contemplated heading to nearby spots that were clean.

“The waves are really good down here. They’re not good up there,” Adams said as he ran into the surf.

“Stupid, isn’t it?” added Fleming as he followed his friend.