Study Starts; Beach Open

Researchers are scheduled to kick off $4.1 million in studies today to try to figure out what caused devastating ocean closures off Huntington Beach in 1999.

From noon today until noon Tuesday, the Orange County Sanitation District and other agencies will extensively sample the surf zone, near-shore and offshore areas along the city’s coast.

The data from this 24-hour period and five 48-hour surveys later this summer will be used to test UCI scientist Stanley Grant’s hypothesis that sewage released about four miles offshore is being brought back to the coastline.

Beachgoers should not be affected by the study but will see a flurry of boat and vehicle activity on the beach and on the ocean.

The cause of the two months of beach closures remains a mystery.