The effluent society

Activist seeks method of treating Aliso Creek waters to make ocean safe for boarders. On the heels of a generally positive report from the city’s Water Quality Department, a local civic activist expressed disgust over the situation at Aliso Beach.

The city’s Urban Runoff Management Program Annual Report states that 12 out of 14 coastline locations may now be taken off the state’s impaired waters list.

Two locations that continue to be on the list are found near the mouth of Aliso Creek.

Mike Beanan of the South Laguna Civic Assn. sees the pollution levels at Aliso as dangerously unhealthy.

“There’s no marine life near the creek mouth because it can’t survive,” Beanan said. “What does that tell you about how healthy it is for us?”

Of particular concern to Beanan is a trench that local skim and boogie boarders dig out from the creek mouth to the ocean to create a wave to surf on.

The release of contaminated water built up in the pond area at the creek’s mouth is creating environmental problems, Beanan claims.

Skim boarder Nick Hernandez, who has been surfing at the spot for 25 years, believes the pollution is a problem, but he refuses to let it prevent him from doing what he loves.

“You’ll have a hard time finding a place in the world where it’s not polluted,” Hernandez said.

On occasion, Hernandez claims to have doused himself in alcohol after swimming in “funky water” near the creek mouth.

Local lifeguards and police see no law against digging out the trench.

Beanan believes the act to be an “attractive nuisance,” a legal term defining a potentially harmful object that is also inviting, particularly to children.

“There’s a permanent sign at the creek mouth that warns of contaminated water; it makes no sense that people can just let it out [into the ocean],” Beanan said.

Beanan also criticizes the county for not taking action and points to an inconsistency in requiring permits for its own projects of digging out the berm for flood control purposes but not requiring them for the skim boarders.

California regional water quality control board member Jeremy Haas said two permits are required for the county to dig out the berm -- one for heavy equipment and another for environmental precautions.

According to Haas, the water in the pond area is tested before it is let out into the ocean.

According to Monica Mazur of Orange County Environmental Health, the water is not as bad as Beanan believes it to be.

“We test a couple of times a week and are required to post signs warning of danger,” Mazur said.

Beanan believes government officials may be honest in their studies but are misleading the public when it comes to the severity of their findings.

“They’ll play things down because they’re government officials,” Beanan said. Beanan believes a solution could be found in setting up a system that would treat the water in Aliso Creek and sell it to other communities. The technology cleans water with ultraviolet rays.

The South Laguna Civic Assn. plans to make a formal proposal to the city for installing the technology in the near future.

The director of water quality management for the city, David Shissler, said technology is increasingly able to fix many pollution problems -- the question is one of affordability.20060127itobnincMARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Two bodyboarders walk into the surf on Aliso Creek Beach near the mouth of the creek. Aliso’s waters have been plagued by pollution.