Study finds 3 possible causes of ocean bacteria

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Scientists have pegged three sources of

contamination that may have led to the closure of city and state beaches

along the city’s coast last year.

A yearlong study to find the cause of high bacteria counts in coastal

waters identified urban runoff, Talbert Marsh and the possible

interaction between the Orange County Sanitation District’s ocean outfall

as the most likely culprits of beach closures in 1999.

City, county and environmental officials gathered Nov. 16 to discuss

the results and the next steps to curb further bacteria contamination.

“The key issues are really the sanitation district’s outfall and the

marsh,” said Robert Beardsley, the city’s director of public works.

Mary Anne Skorpanich, a watershed manager with the Orange County

Public Facilities and Resources Department, which hosted the meeting,

said the study found that Talbert Marsh contributed bacterial

contamination found in urban runoff, and it surpassed runoff as a source

of the enterococcus and o7 E. coli f7 bacteria.

Water birds living in the marsh were the major source of marsh

contamination, with bacteria found in the waste they produced.

“That could be a real problem,” Beardsley said. “If the birds are a

culprit, what do you do with that? You can’t get rid of them. . . . It’s

a salt marsh.”

Sanitation district officials are also looking into a theory that

their outfall pipe, which dumps partially treated sewage five miles out

to sea, may be drifting along the shore along currents caused by AES

Corp. The power plant uses a pipe the length of the city pier to collect

cold ocean water to cool water and discharge warm water, which may draw

in contaminated water from the district’s outfall pipe and redirect it up

the coast, city officials said.

Sanitation district officials were unavailable for comment, and AES

officials did not return phone calls Tuesday.

About $5 million has been spent to study the bacteria along the

Huntington Beach shoreline, about $1.8 million coming from the city.

The city has been rerouting its urban runoff through the sanitation

district for cleansing. Meanwhile, county and city officials will monitor

the district’s outfall pipe and the marsh, and discuss the possible

reevaluation of state codes governing bacteria levels in ocean water.

“The point here is we know there’s something going on there, and it’s

not coming from our city sewer lines or the ground water,” said Rich

Barnard, a spokesman for the city. “We want to use all the numbers and

science we can to draw a final conclusion.”