On the outs with the inlet

The Surfrider Foundation is beginning a new water-quality monitoring program to watch over the area where a new Bolsa Chica inlet will be opened in late summer or early fall.

The nonprofit organization has partnered with Surfline, a surf forecasting company based in Huntington Beach, to keep an eye on water quality as construction on the inlet proceeds. The organizations’ volunteers were trained Saturday, and will devote three days a week to testing the water.

“What this monitoring program is all about is to monitor the area before it’s opened up so we can get a basic idea of baseline conditions, and then continue to monitor for at least a few months after it’s opened,” said Rick Wilson, Surfrider’s coastal management coordinator. Wilson is concerned the inlet will cause pollution at one of the county’s cleanest beaches, and will contribute to erosion of the beaches at Bolsa Chica and at a stretch of Huntington’s beach known as “the cliffs” just south of Bolsa Chica.

“While it no doubt will help the health of the wetlands, we’re concerned with polluted water from the wetlands and storm drains that drain in the ocean, impacting the water quality in the surf,” Wilson said. “The Huntington cliffs area has had a long-running erosion problem, and if they put jetties, there’s a tendency to trap sand ? and if the sand is flowing from north to south, which it does, it might end up worsening the erosion problems they have now.”

Dave Carlberg, vice president of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, said because the inlet will be short, there should be no interruption in sand movement.

Surfrider worked with a number of other private and public organizations to promote restoration, but ultimately the group disagreed with the beach inlet option.

To evaluate when and if conditions will worsen, the organization will monitor the water prior to the opening and will continue for several months after.

Wilson said his main concern is arming surfers and swimmers with information about when it is safe to enter the water.

The Orange County Health Care Agency has been testing water samples taken from within the wetlands twice a week since January. Aside from testing after adverse weather conditions, the agency has not seen poor quality.

“This isn’t supposed to have connections to urban runoff and storm water ? there are bird sources and other animals,” said Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the health agency. “We don’t know ? is it going to attract more birds, are birds going to be in different areas, is there going to be more muddy areas where birds are going to hang out?”

Mazur said that unlike the Talbert Channel and Santa Ana River, the Bolsa Chica inlet will be fast moving, so water dilution could play a part in keeping the water clean.

Beach closures are primarily due to bacteria from the fecal matter of warm-blooded animals, including birds, Mazur said.

“I hope they’re right. I hope we’ll do this monitoring and see, hey, there’s no problem, but we’d like to know,” said Surfrider’s Wilson said. “But if there is, who knows what’s going to happen ? once you open Pandora’s box, it’s hard to shut it again.”

For more information about the Surfrider project, contact Nancy Hastings at nhastings@surfrider.org. Check the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Ocean Water Protection Program website for up-to-date beach closures and water-quality reports at www.ocbeachinfo.com.