Beach Season Ebbs With Record Closures

Orange County beaches were hit with more health warnings and closures this summer than ever before and, although the increase is mostly due to more stringent water-quality testing, local and state officials are scrambling to address the problem.

Cities are raising sewer fees, increasing the frequency of street sweeping and diverting millions of gallons of urban runoff to sewer systems--where many contaminants are removed--instead of letting the runoff flow unimpeded to the coast.

Regional water boards are mandating tougher standards on new development, levying fines for some sewer spills and illegal discharges, and ordering local, county and state agencies to stop letting polluted runoff foul local waters.

And it’s just a start, said Seal Beach City Councilman Paul Yost, a pediatric anesthesiologist.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint. We’re just at the very beginning of getting a handle on this,” he said.

Much of the heightened scrutiny among residents and officials began after two major events in the summer of 1999. California’s new testing standard--the strictest in the nation--kicked in during midsummer and revealed bacterial hot spots along Orange County’s 42-mile coastline. Furthermore, a portion of Huntington Beach’s coastline was closed for two months--an event that some say is a harbinger for much of California, whose coastal tourism industry generates $54 billion annually.

Despite millions of dollars spent over two years studying the Huntington Beach contamination--including $5.1 million this summer--the cause remains a mystery.

Although Huntington Beach’s pollution woes continue to attract the most attention, other stretches of the county’s shores have been hit just as hard.

There were 613 days that health warnings were posted at Orange County’s beaches and harbors between Memorial Day and Labor Day--a 73% increase over last year during that same period, a review of county health figures shows.

“Once again, the evidence is in, and that is that we’re not doing nearly enough . . . to protect our near-shore water quality,” said Mark Massara, coastal programs director with the Sierra Club.

Still, differing water-sampling methods create difficulties in comparing coastal pollution, even at beaches next to each other.

Much of this year’s increase is because health officials started testing two places in Newport Slough, a polluted channel linked to the Santa Ana River. Though it is not a popular recreation spot, children occasionally frolic in the bacteria-laden water.

On any given day, the most of the county’s coastline is swimmable. But beach-goers regularly see signs warning of health hazards along Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, Huntington State Beach, Baby Beach in Dana Point Harbor, Huntington Harbour and Newport Bay.

“Unfortunately, what happens over time is people become accustomed to degradation in their environment and accept it as the norm when it comes to beach closures and postings,” said Susan Jordan, a board member with the League for Coastal Protection. “The public mind-set has to be zero tolerance when it comes to deterioration of water quality and beach closures.”

Most bacterial hot spots are believed to be created by urban runoff--the pet droppings, car oil and fertilizer that is washed off streets and lawns into waterways and eventually the ocean.

Sewage spills have also closed beaches 33 times so far this year, putting the county on pace to shatter last year’s record-breaking 40 closures.

Environmentalists and researchers are also pointing to another potential cause of coastal pollution--the discharge of sewage into the ocean off Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, pollution which some researchers believe is drifting back to the shore.

Those who swim in urban runoff-tainted waters are more likely to get sick than those who swim in other waters, according to a 1996 USC epidemiological study. Contact with sewage-tainted water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea; eye, ear, nose and throat infections; and viral diseases such as hepatitis.

Doheny State Beach in Dana Point is among the county beaches affected the most. Despite efforts to reduce runoff from San Juan Creek, health warnings were posted along stretches of the beach all but 14 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Aside from runoff, other pollution causes may be poor tidal flushing, birds and unclean bathers.

Although most of the harbor warnings are for places where swimmers rarely venture, spots such as Newport Dunes and Baby Beach are popular recreation areas.

At Baby Beach, a sheltered Dana Point Harbor inlet with little tidal flushing, parents often bring young children because it looks safe. The chances of getting caught in a riptide or overpowered by the current are almost nil but the beach is not hazard-free. Health warnings were regularly posted throughout the summer, including all of August.

In the last three months, stretches of Huntington State Beach were posted for more than three dozen days. Still, this was a decline from the summer of 1999, when parts of the beach were closed for two months.

Surfer Megan Devey, 17, of Huntington Beach said she still tends to avoid the state beach. “Why risk it?”

However, on a few occasions when the beach is posted and the waves look too good to pass up, she plunges in. “I spend a shorter amount of time out, then go right home and shower immediately,” she said.

“Obviously, there’s always [pollutants] out in the water that you can’t worry about,” said Devey, who works at Huntington Surf and Sport. But “When there are signs up, that means it’s major. If there are signs up, there’s something definitely wrong.”

She prefers to surf at the city beach in Huntington Beach, which has far fewer health warnings, according to data from the Orange County Health Care Agency. However, Bolsa Chica State Beach is considered the cleanest coastline in Huntington Beach.

Other beaches that fared well include Seal Beach, Crystal Cove State Beach between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, Aliso and Main beaches in Laguna Beach and San Clemente’s coastline.

Still, officials say this is no cause for celebration.

For instance, Seal Beach must deal with torrents of urban runoff and inland sewage spills that flow down the San Gabriel River and close the beach. One devastating closure--caused by a sewage spill 10 miles away in Anaheim--started a day before the Fourth of July holiday.

“When our beach is closed, people don’t come to Seal Beach,” said Councilman Yost, chief of staff at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. “Our businesses suffer, our tax base suffers, our citizens suffer and anyone who gets sick from the water suffers.”