Bacteria levels show drop in local waters

Andrew Edwards

Government numbers show ocean bacteria levels that spiked during

recent rainstorms have begun to fall to normal levels, with the

exception of the waters near the Santa Ana River mouth.

“Pretty much the whole area’s recovered, except for the area

around the Santa Ana River because Prado [Dam is] still discharging,”

Orange County Health Care Agency spokeswoman Monica Mazur said.

Prado Dam, west of Corona, is about 30 miles upstream from the

ocean. Water from the dam has flowed down the river channel to the

ocean since the January storms, picking up litter and debris along

the way, Mazur said.

As of March 3, the health care agency’s bacteria counts show an

excess of bacteria around the Santa Ana River mouth. The health care

agency measures three classes of bacteria: coliform, fecal coliform

and enterococci.

“They’re indicator bacteria. They indicate the possible presence

of disease-causing bacteria,” Mazur said.

March 3 numbers show that near the Santa Ana River, counts for all

three classes of bacteria exceeded standard concentrations.

In addition to germs, storm water from the river brought larger

waste materials to beach cities. Local officials say the only way to

reduce the amount of debris carried by the river would be for

upstream cities to do more activities that could keep junk out of the

channel -- street sweeping and cleaning drainage ditches. The Clean

Water Act requires cities to try to keep debris out of the waterways.