A Summer of Discontent for O.C. Beachgoers

Orange County beaches have been hit with more health warnings and closures this summer than ever before and, though the increase is mostly because of 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 it flow unimpeded to the ocean.

Regional water boards are mandating tough new standards on 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 that’s only the tip of the iceberg, said Seal Beach City Councilman Paul Yost.

“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 in the summer of 1999 after two major events. California’s new testing standard--the strictest in the nation--kicked in in midsummer and revealed bacterial hot spots along Orange County’s 42-mile coastline. Also, a portion of Huntington Beach’s coastline was closed for two months--an event that some say is a harbinger of what’s to come for much of California, which has a $54-billion annual coastal tourism industry.

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

While Huntington Beach’s woes continue to attract the most attention, other stretches of Orange County’s shores have been hit just as hard by coastal pollution.

The total number of days that health warnings were posted at various Orange County beaches and harbors from Memorial Day to Labor Day add up to 613--a 73% increase over last year, a review of county health figures shows.

Warning Signs Are Commonplace

“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 for the Sierra Club.

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

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

On any given day, the vast majority of the county’s coastline is swimmable. But beachgoers 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.”

Urban Runoff Blamed for Bacterial Hot Spots

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

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

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

Swimmers in urban runoff-tainted waters are more likely to get sick than swimmers in cleaner waters, according to a 1996 epidemiological study by USC. 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 clearly among the county beaches affected the most. Despite efforts to cut down runoff pollution from San Juan Creek, stretches of the beach were posted with health warnings all but 14 days from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Aside from runoff, other causes may be poor tidal flushing, birds and unclean bathers.

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

Parents often bring young children to Baby Beach, a sheltered Dana Point Harbor inlet with little tidal flushing, 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. It was posted with warnings regularly throughout the summer, including the entire month of August.

Warnings Posted for More Than 36 Days

Stretches of Huntington State Beach were posted for more than three dozen days in the last three months. Still, that was a major decline from the summer of 1999, when parts of it were closed for two months.

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

On occasion, however, when the beach is posted and the waves look too good to pass up, she plunges in. But she alters her behavior. “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 & 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. Bolsa Chica State Beach is considered the cleanest in the city.

Other beaches that fared well with few health warnings include Seal Beach, Crystal Cove State Beach near Corona del Mar, 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 flowing down the San Gabriel River and the inland sewage spills that also flow miles down the river and close the beach.

One devastating closure--caused by a sewage spill 10 miles away in Anaheim--started a day before the July 4 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.”