Panel to study sewage data

Bryce Alderton

An independent panel of top scientists will study the connection

between the plume of sewage dumped into the ocean each day and high

bacteria levels at Orange County beaches.

The Orange County Sanitation District has recruited a panel of eight

experts on oceanography, microbiology, bacterial and viral contamination

and geophysics from universities across the country to review its

findings from a $5.1 million study.

The panel has been asked to examine the data collected by the

sanitation district and other researchers during the summer 2001 ocean

and shoreline testing, the $5.1 million study meant to determine if the

243-million gallons of sewage dumped 4 1/2 miles off shore each day makes

its way back to the beaches.

They also will confer with researchers from the Scripps Institution of

Oceanography, the United States Geological Survey, the University of

Southern California and the Naval Post Graduate School who have studied

the data, said Bob Ghirelli, director of technical services for the

sanitation district.

“We wanted an independent set of eyes to review all the data,”

Ghirelli said. “We want to provide scientific credibility.”

The hope is that this panel might answer the questions on everyone’s

mind.

“Is the plume coming ashore” Ghirelli asked. “We want to gain an

understanding to see where the plume is. Is it three miles, two miles,

one mile?”

The sanitation district expects to pay between $75,000 and $100,000 to

cover travel expenses and hotel accommodations for the panelists, who are

coming from Oregon, Hawaii and the East Coast.

The $5.1 million study was supposed to test a UC Irvine researcher’s

theory that underwater waves and tides combined with the AES Power

Plant’s ocean water-fed cooling system might be drawing the sewage back

toward shore. Scientists from UC Irvine suggested the combination was the

reason for the high bacteria levels that caused the beach closures in

1999.

The sanitation district reported that its initial finding did not

support the theory.

The offshore discharge creates a plume that can be up to six miles

long, two to three miles wide and 100 feet thick.

The district is able to dump the controversial plume of sewage, which

is not treated to the full secondary level required by the Clean Water

Act of 1972, because they hold a waiver.

Environmentalists say the plume has caused illnesses to surfers and

swimmers and have urged district officials not to renew the five-year

waiver that expires at the beginning of next year.

The panel has been asked to submit a final report on its findings in

September or October.