Report: Water by Bay Club mostly good

Alicia Robinson

If one local environmental group carries out its plans, waterfront

resort visitors may someday be able to choose a vacation spot based

on the rating of its water quality as well as its restaurants and

hotels.

As the first step toward establishing resort water-quality

standards, Orange County Coastkeeper released the first “Shore Score”

report Tuesday. The report is a pilot project that collected data on

water at 15 sites near Orange County resorts, including the Balboa

Bay Club and Resort, in August and September.

Overall, Orange County’s beach water quality is good, Coastkeeper

Executive Director Garry Brown said. The report noted during the

testing period, only one site in Dana Point showed bacteria levels

that exceeded state standards.

“Generally speaking, the beaches are safe to swim in,” he said.

“There are some problem areas in Orange County, but if you go to the

resorts [tested in the report] there’s not going to be a problem.”

Water was monitored for enterococcus, fecal coliform and total

coliform bacteria, which may not cause illness but are considered

indicators of overall water cleanliness.

Analysts determined an average from the data collected for each

month and ranked test sites from best to worst on a four-star system.

The Bay Club was given four stars for its low levels of enterococcus

bacteria in September, but it earned only one star in both of the

months tested due to high total coliform levels.

The report suggested longer-term monitoring of water quality would

allow analysts to draw more thorough conclusions, and it said a

better grading system should be developed.

Coastkeeper wants to develop the Shore Score pilot into more

widely applicable standards that can be used anywhere, Brown said. He

plans to subject the report to scientific review, work with other

water agencies and seek private funding to set up an agency to work

on water monitoring and public education about it.

“If [people are] trying to make up their mind where to go,

especially if they’re going to use the water, maybe one being cleaner

than the other would be a determining factor where they went,” he

said.

Bay Club spokeswoman Maggie Feldman said information on water

quality in the Newport Beach area could help promote tourism, but

visitors to the resort haven’t been too curious about it.

“Water quality has never been an issue or concern,” Feldman said.

“It’s really never brought up at all by anyone calling in.”

Water quality specialists said consumers are becoming more

informed, however.

“I know that awareness is definitely growing,” California Coastal

Conservancy spokesman Dick Wayman said. The conservancy is a state

agency that works to protect and restore the coast.

He expected the resort and tourism industries to welcome the

development of standards and reporting for water quality.

“People find out if water is polluted because you can get sick in

it, so it’s not something you want to hide,” he said. “The more

seriously people take this problem, the more likely the problem is to

get the attention that it needs to be solved.”

Information for coastal water quality is available from multiple

sources. The environmental health division of the Orange County

Health Care Agency lists bacteria level postings and beach closures

on its Web site and Heal the Bay compiles a periodic beach “report

card.”

County of Orange Health Care Agency environmental specialist

Monica Mazur said there could be confusion because different groups

use different rating systems. She works with a new water quality work

group of the state Water Resources Control Board, and the group

struggles with how to get information out in a way that is fair,

accurate and easy to understand, she said.

She said she’s not sure how resorts will respond to water testing

directed at their potential customers.

“If they get good grades, they’ll love it,” she said.