Effluent Plume Found Closer to Shore

Partially treated waste water from a controversial sewage outfall four miles off Orange County’s coast washes back to within half a mile of Newport Beach, far closer than previously disclosed.

And it is unclear whether the waste water drifts any closer because there are no monitoring stations between the half-mile mark where it has been detected and the shore, according to Orange County Sanitation District officials, who have know about the plume’s proximity since testing began there in 1987.

But district officials say there is no threat to swimmers’ health because the plume is trapped in deep water off the Newport Pier, nor is it linked to any high bacteria counts at the beach.

“We have historically seen it at that station, but . . . it has not been a cause of concern,” said Robert P. Ghirelli, the sanitation district’s manager of technical services.

City leaders and environmentalists, however, are worried about the scarcity of detailed information on the plume’s proximity even closer to shore, as well as what they say is the sanitation district’s apparent lack of candor about 14 years of periodic testing data showing that it comes as close as half a mile. Until this information surfaced, most concerns have centered on the plume’s impact on Huntington Beach.

“I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that either this information they viewed as inconclusive, or somebody slipped up and didn’t share it in a public way,” said Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff, who learned how close the waste water has come to shore only this month.

And though he was willing to consider the district’s assurance that the plume poses no health risk, Kiff said, more information is needed, especially since those waters are frequented by the public. Indeed, the city traditionally holds its lifeguard tests off the Newport Pier.

“It is information that . . . should have been shared,” Kiff said. “If indeed it was purposely withheld, I’d be really disappointed, because the sanitation district folks have always been really straight up with us.”

The disclosure comes as opposition builds to the sanitation district’s practice of piping 243 million gallons a day of partially treated effluent from showers, sinks, dishwashers and toilets into deep waters off Huntington Beach.

The agency operates under a waiver to the federal Clean Water Act, which otherwise requires at least secondary treatment of sewage before it can be released in waterways. The waiver is up for renewal in 2003, and three local cities have gone on record opposing continued dumping--including Newport Beach in a vote late Tuesday.

Plume of Sewage Studied

The agency’s outfall now pumps out a 50-50 blend of waste water. Half receives primary treatment; the other half receives primary and secondary treatment. During primary treatment, settling basins and chemicals are used to remove most solids, and oil and grease is skimmed off the top. Secondary treatment uses microorganisms to eat organic wastes and remove additional solid materials that could harbor bacteria or viruses.

District officials have said it would cost $400 million or more to treat all the waste water to secondary levels--standards adopted years ago by most of the nation’s 16,000 sanitation agencies. They contend that the waste water discharged--enough to fill the Rose Bowl three times over each day--does not harm the environment or public health.

But the agency spent $5.1 million this summer to study whether that same sewage could be a source of mysterious bacterial pollutants that forced beach closures along Huntington Beach during much of the summer of 1999.

Previously, sanitation district officials had said sewage from the plume could not return to shore because of the depth and distance of the outfall pipe, but agreed to do further testing. Scientists since have theorized that internal waves, tides and the ocean-water-fed cooling system at the AES power plant could be drawing the plume inland, causing the pollution problems onshore.

In August, district officials said preliminary results of those tests indicate that the sewage plume has never gotten closer than a mile offshore.

But earlier this month, Ghirelli acknowledged that evidence of the plume has been found at a monitoring station half a mile off Newport Beach since 1987.

The data show that the plume is occasionally present, and always at depths of greater than 50 feet. For instance, the half-mile spot was tested throughout the water column 12 days during the year 2000. The plume was present in deep waters at least 25% of the time.

Ghirelli said the plume off the Newport Pier has never been considered a threat to swimmers’ health because the partially treated sewage is trapped in deep water by a thermocline--a layer of water separating warm water from cold.

Moreover, he said, high bacteria counts have never been found at area beaches at the same time the plume was found at lower depths offshore. That means the plume doesn’t drift all the way to shore, he said.

But Ghirelli conceded that further study is needed to determine whether ocean conditions could push the plume closer to shore.

“What we’re trying to understand is if [underwater] waves occur that could provide a mechanism by which something half a mile offshore could be transported to the shoreline,” he said. “That would change the way we look at the plume.”

Dr. Jack Skinner, an internist and longtime Newport Beach environmentalist, said he doubts that even the current study will answer key questions. As the plume moves closer to shore from the half-mile mark, indicator bacteria that health officials test for would naturally die off. But disease-causing viruses--too many and costly to test for--live longer and still would be present, he said.

Nor are there sampling stations between the half-mile mark and the beach to test whether the plume could be drifting even closer.

“Whose interests are they looking out for--their own bottom line or the public health?” asked Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Debbie Cook. “I’m extremely suspicious.”

District Is Criticized

Some researchers, including one of the district’s former scientists, question whether the district paid enough attention to other data that showed the plume was moving back toward shore years ago.

Irwin Haydock, a former district scientist, said he urged his supervisors to do a follow-up study after 1996 data showed the plume 1 1/2 miles from the beaches of Huntington and Newport. He said his recommendations were ignored.

“If you’re working for the sanitation district as a scientist, they couldn’t care less about the science,” said Haydock, who worked in the environmental compliance department from 1989 to 1997. “What they’re doing is saying: ‘You’re stupid. You don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t believe you.’ ”

District officials said at the time that they didn’t believe Haydock had enough data to back his assertions.

“He reached some conclusions at the time that management did not feel were supported by the facts,” Ghirelli said. “It was . . . typical of what we had seen historically. It wasn’t anything new that raised anyone’s eyebrows at the time.”

Still, Ghirelli acknowledged: “I think we would look at it differently today.”

A new district survey shows that county residents also are looking at the cost issues in a different way, and would pay more for increased treatment, although support declines as the proposed fee increases.

In a poll of 1,500 people, about 75% would be willing to pay $20 more annually to treat sewage to higher levels. More than half would pay $50 more annually, but only 42% would be willing to pay $75 more annually

The sanitation district’s waiver expires in 2003, and the district’s board of directors must decide whether to seek renewal by late next year. Each city and local sewer agency served by the district has one seat on the 25-member board.

Environmentalists have been conducting a grass-roots, city-by-city campaign to urge local governments to oppose the waiver. The Newport Beach City Council voted 7 to 0 to oppose waiver renewal Tuesday night. Huntington Beach and Seal Beach city councils also have voted to oppose any renewal of the EPA waiver.