Stop Arguing and Clean the Beaches

Finally, scientists shine some new light on the mysterious 1999 beach closure (“Scientists ID Chief Suspects in ’99 Closures at Huntington,” Nov. 17). UC Irvine researcher Stanley Grant presented an elegant study of the Talbert Marsh and urban runoff and concluded that runoff is not the main culprit.

Foul, cried the sanitation districts, challenging the report’s conclusion that the agency’s five-mile long ocean outfall probably contributed in large measure to the disaster.

This should not be about whodunit, or about killing the messengers, but about how we can avoid future crises. The first order of business should be to develop an operational plan (treatment, discharge and/or disinfection), embracing the precautionary principle and trusting that good science eventually will provide adequate proof (or not) of a district’s involvement, even if only during brief periods.

Second, properly focused ocean-based studies have not started; in fact, these should have been planned and supervised by knowledgeable, non-agency scientists during the height of the crisis in 1999. Better late than never.

Third, the sanitation district should monitor northerly stations daily, develop more rapid indicator identifications--especially those of human origin--and review past years of data preceding suspected events of shoreward sewage incursion, all with an eye toward mitigating future recurrence and/or forewarning the public.

Finally, with hundreds of thousands of people at risk on a warm and sunny weekend, this is not the time to argue about changing scientifically determined water quality standards. Let’s solve this “mystery” first, apportion the responsibilities, and get back to protecting the public’s health every day of the year. Anything less is unacceptable.

IRWIN HAYDOCK

Retired Chief Scientist

Orange County Sanitation

Districts, 1989-97

Fountain Valley