Sewage bleach not reducing shoreline bacteria levels

Paul Clinton

Three weeks after the Orange County Sanitation District began

chlorinating its waste water, bacteria levels along the shoreline

have not fallen, an agency spokeswoman said.

“It looks like unfortunately the disinfection is not a fix to the

shoreline contamination problems,” district spokeswoman Lisa Murphy

said. “It is proving to be effective in killing bacteria in the

treated waste water.... Truly, the waste water plume is not impacting

those bacteria levels.”

District managers have long maintained that the 234-million

gallons of sewage they dump into the ocean from an underwater outfall

pipe 4.2 miles out to sea every day does not contaminate the beach.

However, city leaders and environmentalists have long questioned

that contention, pushing for better treatment of the sewage. Bacteria

from the outfall pipe has been detected as close as a half-mile from

the Newport Beach shoreline.

During its chlorination process, the district collects samples of

the waste water before releasing it into the ocean, Murphy said.

Local environmental activists said they were skeptical of claims

that the outfall pipe should be let off the hook.

“I think that their conclusion is premature,” said Jack Skinner, a

Newport Beach environmentalist. “I don’t think we have enough

information yet.”

Bob Caustin, who founded Defend the Bay to combat pollution in

Back Bay, called it a “self-serving public relations ploy.”

Yet, a string of scientific studies over the past year have

pointed to other possible culprits -- including urban runoff, bird

droppings in the Santa Ana River and an RV park -- for recurring

bacterial “hot spots” in West Newport and at Huntington State Beach.

On Aug. 12, the district began a program to immediately bleach the

waste, dechlorinate it, then release it into the sea.

Starting the new treatment method has been smooth, Murphy said.

The waste water moving through the two treatment plants -- Plant No.

1 in Fountain Valley and Plant No. 2 in Huntington Beach -- moves

through several stages of chlorination.

It is treated with a dose of chlorine about three times stronger

than the everyday household variety; the district uses between 18,000

and 20,000 gallons per day.

Agency workers bleach the waste water for about two hours of

“contact time” and then add a dechlorination chemical to remove the

bleach before it enters the ocean.

Local water quality regulators ordered the district to begin the

chlorination process to help ease the worried minds of surfers and

swimmers heading to the beaches. They have been regularly monitoring

bacteria levels along the shoreline.

Ken Tyson, of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board,

said he agreed with the district’s finding.

“It’s pretty definitive proof that it’s not the plume and never

has been [that’s contaminating the shoreline],” Tyson said. “It’s not

coming to shore.”