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From Eryka Forquer
In an effort to reduce pollution and maintain water quality for the safety of recreational beach users, the Surfrider Foundation published its annual Clean Water Report on May 25, highlighting threats to coastal water quality and measuring levels of bacteria in the water.
While the beach is a popular attraction for South County’s locals and tourists alike, the Surfrider Organization pointed out that local waters continue to be polluted.
In his report, Surfrider measured the concentration of bacteria in the water as part of the Blue Water Task Force program, an initiative founded more than 25 years ago. The program uses Surfrider volunteers to collect water samples from more than 500 ocean, estuary, bay and freshwater locations and test fecal bacteria levels.
“Kapitel water testing programs are designed to fill the gaps and expand coverage of state and local beach programs,” the report said. “Surfrider volunteers test beaches that are not covered by agencies and also monitor potential sources of pollution such as rainwater outlets, rivers and streams that drain into the beach.”
Of the 5,796 samples taken, the Blue Water Task Force performed 1,528 water tests at 16 different locations in California, including Irvine, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, and Huntington Beach.
“The overall results of all participating BWTF laboratories have remained relatively constant since we started compiling data in an annual report in 2011,” the report says. “Of the 5,796 water test results reported in 2020, 69% indicated low levels of bacteria, 10% indicated medium levels of bacteria, and 21% indicated high levels of bacteria that exceeded the water quality criteria or beach action values set by each state.”
In the Clean Water Report, Surfrider attributes runoff as a contributor to marine pollution. Pollution from point sources, including urban, agricultural and stormwater runoffs, threatens the quality of coastal waters.
According to the report, approximately 10 trillion gallons of untreated rainwater runoff, which contains pollutants such as road dust, oil, animal waste, fertilizers, and other chemicals, flows into U.S. waterways every year.
The report also highlights wastewater pollution and inefficient infrastructure as major sources of marine pollution. Sewage spills and sewage infrastructure have released under-treated and untreated sewage into the ocean and local waterways each year at a rate of more than 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage.
“Wastewater can contain bacteria, viruses and parasites that make people sick with gastrointestinal symptoms, rashes, skin and eye infections, flu-like symptoms and worse,” the report said. “Sewage and stormwater runoff also pollute waterways with excess nutrients, which devastate coastal ecosystems by fueling harmful algal blooms that threaten human health and lead to fish and coral reef deaths.”
While the Clean Water Report cites sewage spills as a major contributor to marine pollution, Cynthia Mallett, director of environmental programs, said the city of San Clemente experiences few sewage leaks that affect the quality of its local waters.
“The Utilities department has a proactive sewer inspection program that uses a radio-controlled, camera-equipped robot to video record sewers,” said Mallett. “The videos are then reviewed to see if any deficiencies need to be addressed immediately and to evaluate sections that may be considered for future capital improvement projects. All sewer pipes in the city are usually inspected every three years. ”
To help reduce marine pollution, Surfrider urges the government to invest more money in existing programs and create more efficient water quality monitoring programs.
To keep the local waters clean, the city of San Clemente launched the Clean Ocean Program, which aims to protect streams, beaches and reef ecosystems from pollutants.
“The city has installed and maintained six vortex separators, which are underground treatment units that collect sediment, waste and debris that flow towards the sea in dry and wet weather,” Mallett said. “These units prevent around 93 tons of debris from entering the ocean each year. The Clean Ocean program also conducts 200 water quality inspections and 160 enforcement actions each year. ”
To fund the program, the city introduced the Clean Ocean Fee, a fee that is charged to owners on their monthly electricity bills. While the clean ocean fee expired in 2020, Mallett said the city expects to send a postal ballot to property owners in about six to eight months to vote on whether to reintroduce the fee.
In addition to the Clean Ocean Program, Mallett said educating property owners and residents about irrigation runoff is of paramount importance to improving water quality in San Clemente.
Similar to San Clemente’s efforts to prevent pollution, Lisa Zawaski, senior water quality engineer, said the city of Dana Point is focusing on education and outreach to help keep its local waters clean.
“We do a lot,” said Zawaski. “We also do annual coastal cleanups every September, and we also post Facebook posts trying to get people to monitor their sprinklers so the drain doesn’t go down the gutters.”
Zawaski says Dana Point has several water quality monitoring programs in place. Dana Point is participating in a cooperative effort to test all beaches and is giving its data to Heal the Bay, an environmental group that produces an annual report that uses letter classes to rank west coast beaches based on bacteria levels in water quality samples.
According to Zawaski, Dana Point is using the Heal the Bay report as a policy guide.
While Surfrider’s Clean Water Report did not collect water samples from sites in San Clemente and Dana Point, the two coastal cities are participating in the water quality improvement plan.
In addition, Orange County’s coastlines are tested weekly for bacteria levels by the OC Health Care Agency’s water quality laboratory.
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