O.C. coast improving, study says

In California, Orange County was second only to Los Angeles County in

the number of times beaches were closed or unsafe last year,

according to a survey released Thursday.

The study, titled “Testing the Waters” and compiled by the Natural

Resources Defense Council, did show improvements around local

beaches. In 2004, there was a 26% drop in instances health officials

shut down beaches or posted notices alerting beachgoers to

unhealthful conditions.

In Orange County, the survey tallied 939 advisories or closures

last year, down from 1,329 in 2003.

“It’s still a large number of days where the beach is unavailable

or unsafe,” said Anjali Jaiswal, a Natural Resources Defense Council

attorney who specializes in water issues.

Last year’s statistics also showed marked improvements from 2002

and 2001, when Orange County placed last in the organization’s

survey.

The most common culprit for beach closures or safety notices was

bacteria. According to the survey, microbes were to blame 88% of the

time.

Newport Bay’s two worst spots in the survey were 33rd Street Beach

and the beach near the intersection of Newport Boulevard and West

Coast Highway, Jaiswal said. Those beaches were in bad shape through

all of 2004.

Because of persistent bacteria-related problems, the Orange County

Health Care Agency has maintained a long-term health warning around

the 33rd Street Channel since 1997.

The agency has alerted beachgoers to problems near the Newport

Boulevard bridge since 1999.

The agency has also judged the waters at 43rd Street Beach to be

unhealthful since 1999.

On the cleaner side, Jaiswal cited Bayshore Beach and the waters

near 52nd and 53rd streets as Newport’s safest. Jaiswal said the

survey counted only one bad day for Bayshore Beach and two for the

latter beach.

Jaiswal blamed urban runoff and the bacteria it brings for local

beach closures.

Environmentalists often mention runoff as a leading enemy of water

quality, and Jaiswal recommended construction projects include sand

filters and catch-basin screens to prevent polluted waters from

flowing from buildings to the beach.

“Instead of cleaning the beaches, let’s clean our water,” she

said.

In 2000, the Orange County Sanitation District, started a program

to allow runoff to be subjected to the same treatment as sewage.

Currently the sewer agency accepts a maximum of 10 million gallons

of runoff each day. During rain storms, the district does not accept

runoff because too much water would overload the sewer system.

Local environmental figures said channeling water from storm

drains to the sewer system has been an effective tool against beach

closures.

Jack Skinner a Newport Beach water-quality advocate, said a

consensus has emerged in California that favors treating runoff that

way.

In addition to treatment, Garry Brown, the executive director of

water quality group Orange County Coastkeeper said he supports giving

the public information about the problems that can stem from runoff,

and using available technologies to prevent over watering.

“We have to go up into the watershed. We have to reduce the flows

that are coming down,” Brown said.