Filters Will Help Cut Doheny Beach Pollution

Doheny Beach is one of the most polluted in Southern California, a 1.3-mile ribbon of shoreline where the county Health Department has posted warning signs more than 100 times this year.

But help is on the way.

Dana Point officials plan to build a sophisticated filtration system near the mouth of San Juan Creek to collect large debris and divert some urban runoff for treatment before it hits the ocean.

The $750,000 projects, funded by a state grant, represent the biggest effort yet to clean up the beach, one of Orange County’s first surfing meccas, where pioneer wave riders hit the water 70 years ago. Although Doheny is still a popular beach, its reputation has been tarnished by the frequent pollution closures.

Chris Andrews, 39, owner of Killer Dana Surf Shop near the beach, said he has been surfing at Doheny since he was 10 and has witnessed the worsening pollution. Now, he showers after every dip in the ocean--and urges his surfing students to do the same.

“It’s a great beach to learn how to surf. It has these nice, soft waves,” Andrews said. “[But] I get this weird feeling. I always take a shower after I go in the water.”

Those who don’t shower, he said, “are taking their chances going out there.”

Surfers have long lamented the decline of Doheny, a magnet since the 1930s when young men rode the waves on solid redwood long boards. Doheny was also one of the first beaches to be adopted by a new generation of surfers in the 1950s who used the smaller, lighter boards that are popular today.

Dana Point officials said the new filters will help return Doheny to its previous glory.

“Our industry is our visitors, and if people can’t go in the ocean and they stop coming here, that hurts our industry,” said Dana Point Mayor Harold R. Kaufman. “When our beach gets closed, it hurts economically and hurts our residents.”

Officials agree the problem is urban runoff, considered the leading cause of beach pollution nationwide. The San Juan Creek snakes from the Cleveland National Forest through new South County subdivisions before emptying into the ocean.

The creek collects runoff, a mixture of decaying vegetation, animal waste, motor oil and detergents.

The plan is to install limited-flow diversion pipes and debris traps at two locations along the creek. One project will require a new storm drain. The limited-flow pipes will divert 165 gallons of urban runoff a minute to the nearby Southeast Regional Reclamation Authority facility, where it will be treated.

The traps will capture some large debris before it gets to the creek’s mouth. They will be cleaned about once a month or more, Dana Point officials said.

The system is designed to work only during the dry season, when the creek is not swollen by storm water. During periods of heavy flow, the system will be bypassed.

Officials acknowledge that the system won’t eliminate polluted runoff, but they say it’s a first step.

“There’s a lot of other places along the creek where debris enters the channel,” said Carmen Kasner, deputy city engineer with the city’s Public Works Department. “But you have to start somewhere.”

Last year, the Heal the Bay environmental group ranked Doheny sixth on its annual report card of the worst beaches in Southern California.

“It’s definitely one of the hottest spots we’ve got,” said Chad Nelson, the Surfrider Foundation’s environmental director. “It’s posted all the time.”

Nelson said the improvements do not go far enough.

“They’re not stopping the problem; they’re treating the symptoms,” he said. “There’s some merit to [installing the filters], because it does reduce bacteria levels and filter out other things like heavy metals. But those practices don’t do anything to reduce problems from urban runoff.”

Nelson said he believes in educating the public about common activities like washing cars, fertilizing lawns and using pesticides that can harm water purity.

But City Councilwoman Ingrid McGuire said she cheers any step to clean the beaches. “Anything that helps to reduce the pollutants . . . is very welcome by Dana Point,” McGuire said.