Board’s Vote Turns the Tide on Pollution Tests

SANTA ANA — With summer approaching, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to resume a pollution testing program of beach and bay waters that was cut two years ago during the bankruptcy.

Supervisors and other county officials said the testing is needed to ensure the public’s health and safety given the sharp increase in the number of beaches closed because of water pollution. In 1996, water pollution caused stretches of Orange County’s shoreline to be temporarily shut a record 22 times.

“Since the bankruptcy, we have basically been reacting to problems that are reported in the water,” said Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson. “Now we will have a formal process back, and we can be proactive.”

The board’s vote reestablishes a three-member monitoring team that will test the waters from Seal Beach to San Clemente and help determine whether pollution levels are severe enough to shut down beaches. The program will cost an estimated $121,000 a year.

Environmentalists and local lifeguards cheered the increased testing, which they said is long overdue.

“This is something all the surfers and swimmers deserve,” said Pierce Flynn, executive director of the Surfrider Foundation. “We surfers sometimes feel like canaries in the coal mine.”

The county disbanded the pollution team in 1995 as a cost-saving measure after a series of risky investments went bad, forcing the county into bankruptcy.

Limited testing continued on a voluntary basis by harbor patrol officers, sanitation workers and others. Those tests were not always reliable, said Jack Miller, director of the county’s environmental health division.

The new monitoring team should be formed within the next few weeks and will increase the amount of testing performed during the busy summer beach season, Miller said. The team will also improve prevention, inspection and investigation procedures.

Up to now, tests have measured for fecal coliform, an indicator of sewage or filth. But Miller said inspectors could begin testing for other sources of pollution that now might go undetected.

Lt. Steve Davidson of the Huntington Beach Marine Safety Department said the county should consider testing for petroleum, pesticides and other substances that can be washed into the ocean during rains.

“Unless there is a specific disaster like an oil spill, you don’t often see testing for those things,” Davidson said.

Urban runoff is considered the top source of pollution that can cause skin irritation and possible sinus infections and other ailments in swimmers.

Supervisor Jim Silva said the new testing plan is “very good news for people who live on the beach and those who enjoy water activities.”

Back to the Beach

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to reinstate a beach-water pollution testing team cut during the bankruptcy. Beach closures in Orange County:

1992: 15

1993: 7

1994: 17

1995: 22

1996: 22

Source: Orange County Health Care Agency

Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times