Warning lifted for 43rd Street

Beach’s bacteria levels had exceeded county health standards since September of 1999.County health officials have removed a bacteria warning for the waters near 43rd Street beach. The water had been considered unsafe for more than six years.

Newport Beach officials wrote a letter in October asking the Orange County Health Care Agency to remove the health warning, assistant city manager Dave Kiff said. The agency replied, in a letter dated Monday, that only 1% of water tests at the location this year showed bacteria levels exceeding state health standards.

Between April and October, none of the of water tests at 43rd Street beach exceeded health standards. Last year, 15% of water tests during those months showed high levels of bacteria, compared with 43% over that period in 2003.

Health officials first closed the beach on Sept. 22, 1999, Health Care Agency spokeswoman Monica Mazur said. Mazur said Newport Beach’s water quality policies deserved credit for the improvements at 43rd Street beach.

Kiff theorized that screens the city uses to block trash from entering storm drains during dry months could have played a part in cleaning up the water around 43rd Street.

“The less trash you get into the pipes, the less bacteria that can stew down there,” Kiff said.

The county maintains long-term bacteria warnings at two other Newport locations. The water in 33rd Street Channel between 33rd and 37th streets has been considered unhealthy since August 1997. A similar warning has been in effect for the water around West Coast Highway and the Newport Boulevard bridge since May 1999.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards@latimes.com.