NATURAL PERSPECTIVES -- VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

Who is to blame for the beach closures of the summer of 1999?

At the time, the most likely candidate was a sewer leak. None could be

found. Urban runoff was another reasonable suspect. Local sources of

runoff were blocked in the summer of 2000 and yet the contamination

problem continued. So where was it coming from?

One of the unlikely candidates is Talbert Marsh, which has been

accused in the press of contaminating the beach with bird droppings.

Could the marsh be responsible for the summer of 1999 beach closures?

Sorry, Charley. Toddlers frolicking in the surf in their dirty diapers

are as likely a culprit as the marsh and its token contingent of a few

hundred gulls.

A recent scientific paper (Vic was a coauthor) showed that the marsh

is, in fact, a source of bacteria, probably from birds. Little surprise

there, really. But the numbers just don’t add up to the marsh being a

source large enough to contaminate miles and miles of beachfront.

Geography provides an important clue. Immediately inland of this area

are the Orange County Sanitation District’s sewage treatment plant and

the AES power plant. The unique juxtaposition of these two structures may

be the real culprit in our beach closures. The highest bacterial counts

have consistently been found directly in front of the AES Corp. power

plant at Newland Street and Pacific Coast Highway, not in front of the

sewage treatment plant.

The power plant has a massive cooling water pipe that discharges into

the ocean just a few hundred yards offshore in a vigorous jet that rises

straight up to the surface. There is little indication that the power

plant discharge water itself contains bacteria. But the discharge is a

perfect tool for bringing up to the surface any bacteria that might be

lurking in deeper layers of ocean water.

Why would there be bacteria deep in the ocean? Well, we put them

there. The Orange County Sanitation District discharges its waste out to

sea, 240 million gallons of it a day, through a 10-foot diameter pipe

that lies 200 feet below the surface. That is so deep that it has long

been believed that no force could possibly bring those bacteria up to the

surface where it could contaminate the beach. Unfortunately, the experts

never considered the impact of the currents generated by the power plant

discharge.

Besides the fact that the sewage is discharged into deep water, there

are two other considerations that made it seem unlikely that bacteria in

the sewage could get back to the beach.

One is the fact that the sewage outfall is so far out to sea: four and

a half miles. That is a long way out. Traditional studies of ocean

currents show the plume moving either north or south parallel to coast,

but staying offshore. However, recent oceanographic studies have

discovered a phenomena called internal tides and internal waves. These

obscure forces do seem to have the ability to move the bacterial plume in

toward the shore.

Another consideration is dilution. As soon as the sewage bacteria hit

the ocean water, it is diluted and gets further and further diluted as it

moves away from the outfall pipe. The sanitation district was convinced

that by the time any of its bacteria reached the beach, it would be so

diluted as to be undetectable. Again, more recent findings show that,

contrary to expectations, the plume is not being as fully diluted as once

thought.

So, the real culprit in our beach closures seems to be the unique

placement of underwater pipes for our power and sewage treatment plants.

The proof isn’t in just yet. A summer-long study is underway looking at

every possible ocean condition. A big disappointment to us is that there

still is no easy way that science can distinguish between bacteria from

humans and bacteria from birds. Several laboratories are working

feverishly on developing methods to do just that. When the techniques are

perfected, we’ll be able to tell quite easily just what contribution

humans versus wildlife make to ocean bacteria. Our bet is on humans as

the real culprits in this case.

An important point is that the sanitation district’s sewage effluent

is a mixture of 50% primary-treated and 50% secondary-treated sewage.

Note that in order for our sanitation district to dump primary-treated

sewage into the ocean, it needs a waiver from the EPA.

The Orange County Sanitation District is one of the few in California

to hold such a waiver. At no point does any of this sewage receive any

type of disinfection before it goes into the ocean.

We believe it’s time to stop discharging sewage that has had only

primary treatment. As taxpayers, we need to bite the bullet and pay for

more advanced treatment, including chemical or ultraviolet disinfection.

Over the next 20 years, Orange County taxpayers will pay about $1.4

billion to expand and upgrade our sewage treatment plants. While we’re

increasing the capacity of those plants, we should spend another $100

million to $400 million to increase effectiveness. It’s time to clean up

our act.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .