Water board approves 3 sewage plume studies

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Regional water-quality regulators last week extended

three studies they hope will pinpoint the cause of bacterial

contamination found in a plume of sewage off the city’s coastline.

On Friday, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board gave a

green light to the studies that could fill the void that a previous

$5.1-million study left for the district.

The water board unanimously approved the studies to map the patterns

of ocean currents, create scientific models to examine the plume and

compare the district’s waste discharges with data from Ventura and Los

Angeles counties.

The three studies have been included in the Orange County Sanitation

District’s 2002-03 budget at a cost of $171,000 for the work.

Every year, district officials are required by federal law to present

ways they are analyzing the effect of their plume on the ocean

environment, said Kurt Berchtold, the board’s assistant executive

officer.

“Some of the studies would provide some additional information that

would help to better understand the plume,” he said. “They are required.”

The sanitation district, via a federal waiver, discharges 240 million

gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean each day. The waiver

allows the district to meet lower standards than those laid out in the

Clean Water Act of 1972.

District officials are moving to renew the waiver, which has already

been renewed twice since it was first granted in the 1980s.

The studies would be in addition to regular monitoring and testing of

the water offshore. The outfall pipe stretches 4 1/2 miles out to sea.

Monitoring work to compare local data with other areas along the

coastline has gone on since July 1998. That work is scheduled for August,

November, February and May.

The district will also continue to create models of the plume to

study, a process that began in July 2000.

Work to uncover the mysteries of the area’s crisscrossing currents

began in February 1999 and is also set to continue, officials said.

If the new work can uncover more information about whether the plume

is heading farther south, it would be of value, said Assistant City

Manager Dave Kiff.

“Tracking the plume is still useful,” Kiff said, “especially if

they’re tracking tidal patterns.”

Scientists who took water samples during the summer of 2001 and

analyzed them reported that there was no evidence that high levels of

bacteria from the plume were returning to the shore.

The district funded that study, which was released May 15.

Another group of scientists from UC Irvine and Scripps Oceanography

also conducted tests, using samples taken by the district, which they

said debunks the theory that warm water held the cold water and sewage

plume at bay.

City officials and environmentalists have long suspected the bacteria

from the plume as a primary cause of the nagging surf zone contamination

problem.

Jack Skinner, a Newport Beach environmentalist, said he was skeptical

the studies were misdirected.

“There is a crying need for more information about how the waste water

moves from Huntington Beach to our shoreline to affect the swimmer,”

Skinner said. “For some reason, they don’t seem to be doing the tests

that will determine whether that bacteria reaches the shore.”

Huntington Beach Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen also said she doubted

additional studies would be valuable.

Skinner, Houchen and others have called on the district to step up its

treatment of the sewage.

“Don’t do more studies,” Julien Houchen said of the latest studies.

“Treat the sewage.”

District board members are scheduled to decide later this month

whether to pursue another waiver renewal. The water board would initially

accept the application and make a recommendation to the Environmental

Protection Agency.

District leaders said they look forward to the results of the new

studies.

“The big picture [of the studies] is to answer the question: Where is

the plume at any given time?” said Robert Ghirelli, the district’s

director of technical services. “We don’t have enough information. . . .

We’re trying to develop better tools to help advance our knowledge.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .