Beach Closures Set Another Record

Beach closures in Los Angeles County set a record for the second year in a row as the county and many cities continued to resist efforts to reduce urban runoff, an environmental group said in a report scheduled to be released today.

Beaches on Los Angeles County’s 74 miles of coastline were closed or had hazardous-bacteria warnings posted on 1,469 days last year -- the highest in the state -- the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council said in its 15th annual “Testing the Waters” nationwide beach report.

Conditions improved in Orange and San Diego counties, with closures and postings down by roughly 400 days each.

This was encouraging for Orange County, which, in 2002 had the highest number of closures and postings in the state, the environmental group said. Since then, the Orange County Sanitation District has targeted restaurants and food processors to try to keep workers from dumping grease into sewers.

Ventura County’s numbers also dropped.

Beaches are closed when county officials identify an immediate health hazard. Advisories or postings warn beachgoers that bacterial levels in the water exceed health standards.

Nationwide, more beach closings and advisories were reported last year than any other time in the 15 years the environmental group has been observing them, likely the result of improved monitoring, the environmental group said. However, it’s difficult to compare Southern California beaches with others because of differences in monitoring.

Southern California saw much more rainfall than average in the winter of 2004. October, in fact, was the wettest October on record in a century in downtown Los Angeles. Rainfall tends to flush more dirty runoff into the ocean, causing more closures.

The dirtiest spot in Los Angeles County was Surfrider County Beach, in Malibu, which was closed or posted advisories 137 days last year. Poche County Beach in San Clemente topped Orange County’s list with 107 days. Doheny State Beach in Dana Point also had extended health warnings.

The cleanest Orange County beaches on the environmental group’s list were Bolsa Chica State Beach and Newport Beach near 52nd Street. Both posted advisories one day each last year.

Even as Los Angeles County posted a second record year of closures and advisories, it and 44 cities filed five lawsuits opposing a plan to clean up Southern California urban runoff -- the primary source of beach pollution. The cities spent at least $1.3 million on four lawsuits opposing a 2001 plan ordered by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, according to the environmental group. The county declined to say how much it has spent on its suit, which was filed separately.

The Los Angeles-area runoff plan requires government agencies and builders to clean tainted water before it flows into storm drains and out to the ocean. But the county, many cities and business groups have fought the plan, arguing that the rules could prove unreasonably costly.

In the past, cities were required to identify major sources of pollution. The new plan requires municipalities to inspect more rigorously construction and industrial sites likely to produce polluted runoff. The new rules also hold the county and cities that own and operate storm drains accountable for ensuring that runoff is significantly cleaner.

“Essentially, what the county and cities are saying is: We’ve identified a problem but now we don’t want to deal with it,” said Michael A.M. Lauffer, an attorney for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed all five suits in March, but the county and 33 of the cities, mostly inland municipalities, are appealing.

Howard D. Gest, an attorney representing Los Angeles County, said the county has implemented every pollution control measure the water board requested. The lawsuit, he said, takes issue with a section of the runoff plan that allows the regional board to require additional cleanup measures in the future at unknown costs to the county. “The county is committed as much as any other entity to reducing pollutants in the storm water. What the county is doing is protecting taxpayer money. The county has many responsibilities, and it has to make sure that money spent on storm water is cost-effective.”

Nonetheless, attorneys for the environmental group say the suits undermine the cities’ and county’s commitment to clean beaches.

“I think the regular Angeleno would be outraged to know that millions [of dollars] were spent to challenge a plan that would clean up pollution,” said Anjali I. Jaiswal, an attorney for the group.

Lauffer said, “There are real costs, but there is also real harm. When beaches are closed, it impacts coastal economy.”