State beach may be on “impaired” list

Paul Clinton

The State Water Resources Control Board wants to clean up a stretch of

Huntington State Beach.

The board added the shoreline -- from Newland Avenue to the Santa Ana

River -- to a proposed list of impaired water bodies to be submitted to

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The federal list, the Impaired Water Bodies 303d List, was created by

the Clean Water Act of 1972. It flags a polluted water body so it can be

cleaned up.

“Anything that would help maintain our beach waters would be

fabulous,” Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen said. “Anything that would

clean up our beaches, I would be supportive of.”

That section of the state beach has been particularly troublesome,

registering high bacteria counts and a rash of beach postings in recent

years.

County health officials said this week that leaking sewage pipes at a

lifeguard restroom that closed the beach Tuesday, may be the cause of the

high bacteria counts.

The situation needs to be remedied, Councilman Ralph Bauer said.

“We’ve been through a lot of agony around here,” Bauer said, referring

to the city’s tribulations with keeping its beaches free of postings. “If

we’re not on top of it, we’re going to be on top of it shortly.”

Once the beach is added to that list, state and local officials must

develop standards for how much pollution can be in the waters. The

standards are known as “total maximum daily loads.”

Local water regulators would be charged with creating a timeline for

implementing the standards.

The state water board has passed on several other water bodies in the

city for submission -- Huntington Harbor, Anaheim Bay and Bolsa Chica

channel -- due to a lack of data.

Data may be forthcoming, Orange County CoastKeeper executive director

Garry Brown said. The environmentalist has begun taking testing samples

in the harbor.

In May, Brown submitted the formal request to list six creeks in

Newport Coast. Three of those were accepted.

“It’s a very hot spot,” Brown said about the state beach. “We’ve

supported all of those locations.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and politics

for the Independent’s sister paper the Daily Pilot. He may be reached at

(949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7 paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .