 Pollution caused 2,596 beaches closures in 1996
Numerous closings in San Diego County from spills and polluted runoff
provided by Natural Resources Defense Council
 ollution from sources such as over- flowing
sewers and storm drains caused at least 2,596 closings or advisories last
year along the nation's beaches, according to the Natural Resource Defense
Council's annual report, Testing the Waters VII: How Does Your Vacation
Beach Rate?, released this July. California beach closures and advisories
days totaled 1,054; San Diego County had 269, mostly due to storm water
runoff pollution and sewage spills. San Diego experienced the second-highest
number pollution-related beach closures among the ten coastal California
counties that regularly test for bacteria (seven coastal counties do no
monitoring at all).
 "San Diego County does monitor the beaches
but we want to stress that it's not comprehensive and consistent,"
cautioned Everett DeLano, NRDC Senior Project Attorney. "For example,
the county only monitors two days a month between April and August and it
did not report the permanent closures. This is hardly a commendable record
nor a effective way to protect public health."
The county responds that it is upgrading its
monitoring program and will begin to test weekly at ten sites between the
San Diego River and Torrey Pines State beach. During the winter, they will
test every other week. But they don't have the funds to do more monitoring
or increase the number of pollutant indicators they are testing for.
Just STOP it
Donna Frye, founder of Surfers Tired of Pollution
(STOP) stated, "San Diego County should be commended for the monitoring
it is doing. But we need to do a lot more, and especially with regard to
enforcement. For surfers, the months when nature produces the best surfing
conditions are the same times they're at the highest risk for getting sick."
Aside from relatively regular sewage spills, polluted runoff along the county's
72 miles of beaches occurs mainly between November and April, when rainstorm
runoff washes pollutants, including oils and animal waste, out via the storm
drains which empty right at the shore.
STOP has been instrumental in badgering the
San Diego City Council to begin to divert dry-weather flows from seven storm
drains into the city's sewage treatment plant. But the idea that storm water
runoff can be diverted is deemed too costly in our arid region. |
Permanent closings
Mr. DeLano said that in addition to the 269
closings and advisories listed in this year's NRDC report, there were three
permanent beach closings: Imperial Beach from the international border to
Seacoast Drive; San Luis Rey River in Oceanside; and Loma Alta Lagoon in
Oceanside. NRDC defines "permanent closings" as those closings
lasting longer than twelve weeks.
"Furthermore, the county and numerous
other dischargers in our area are violating federal law on a regular basis,"
Mr. DeLano noted. "NRDC and the San Diego BayKeeper are threatening
lawsuits against the County and are suing several area polluters including
Caltrans, and Southwest Marine for storm water pollution violations."
NRDC's report highlights the inconsistency
between monitoring practices from county to county throughout California,
which makes it impossible to assess pollution problems at some beaches.
Only 10 of California's 17 coastal counties regularly monitor ocean and
bay waters. They are: Alameda, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, San Diego,
San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and most recently,
Santa Barbara.
Beach water quality monitoring in California
is voluntary and testing is left up to the counties. This year, concerned
about the problem of spotty beach safety programs in the state, San Diego
Assemblyman, Howard Wayne introduced A.B. 411. Assemblyman Wayne's bill
proposes a state version of the National Beach Protection Program called
for in Testing the Waters. |
|
Action Alert: Call on Pete!
Support the environmental flotilla in Sacramento
There has been a "flotilla" of legislation
in Sacramento this session relating to coastal resources. Of particular
interest to San Diegans are: AB 411 (Wayne) Beach Water Quality Monitoring;
SB 499 (Alpert) Polluted Runoff; and AB 1228 (Ducheny) Public Beach Enhancement.
During August, these bills, and others will be coming for their final approval.
You should contact your State Senate or Assembly representative and ask
for them to support the flotilla.
Just as important is the fact that Governor
Wilson's administration has been opposing many of the bills. So maybe if
some folks from his hometown start to call, he'll take notice. Write, call
and FAX Governor Wilson urging him to support the coast and ocean "flotilla"
bills:
Governor Pete Wilson
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 445-4633
Further information on the status of the flotilla bills can be found on the CA Senate Website, www.sen.ca.gov/www/leginfo, or by calling NRDC at (415) 777-0220. Alerts and updates are available via email; send your request to: cqual znet.com. |
|
It would require the State Department of Health Services to develop uniform
statewide beach water quality criteria and monitoring standards. Regular
monitoring would be required at all beaches, especially those adjacent to
storm drains. Beaches that fail to meet the criteria would be required to
post signs notifying the public of the health risks of swimming in the water.
A 24-hour hotline number would also be established to let beachgoers know
which beaches are polluted.
The other 49
California's pollution problems and spotty
monitoring record echoes the rest of the country. NRDC found that eight
states do no regular monitoring of beach water pollution for swimmer safety
and notifying the public: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington. Another fourteen states
monitor only a portion of their coastline: California, Florida, Hawaii,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
There are only seven states that comprehensively
monitor their coastlines: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, New
Hampshire, New Jersey and Ohio. Only six states consistently close a beach
if the standard is violated: Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, New York,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Vacation ratings
To help educate consumers about pollution problems
at the nation's beaches, NRDC rated 12 of the nation's most popular vacation
beaches on whether they are regularly monitored for pollution and also warn
beachgoers of pollution. Florida's Key West, South Carolina's Myrtle Beach,
North Carolina's Outer Banks and Puerto Rico's entire coastline got the
"thumbs down" rating. California's Venice Beach in Los Angeles,
and Windansea Beach in San Diego, got "thumbs up" ratings, along
with Cape May, New Jersey; and Jones Beach, New York. Those beaches receiving
an intermediate rating were Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ocean City, Maryland;
Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Hawaii's Oahu beaches.
"We're glad that two of California's popular
tourist destination beaches received good ratings," said Mr. DeLano.
"But remember that the practice is voluntary, often erratic, and not
consistent throughout California. It also does not mean that these beaches
are always clean. Windansea, for example, has a terrible water pollution
problem."
National standards
NRDC is calling for uniform national standards
governing beach water monitoring and public notification. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency recently announced a new BEACH program that encourages
states to adopt EPA's recommended criteria for recreational waters, provides
technical assistance to states and local health departments and compiles
information on beach monitoring and assessment activities. NRDC cautioned
that the EPA's program does not go far enough because it continues to rely
on voluntary compliance by the states and fails to ensure a consistent,
high-level of protection for swimmers.
The report recommends cleaning up the sources
of beach water pollution storm drains, sewer spills and overflows, polluted
runoff as well as individual actions that include simple acts such as conserving
water, keeping septic systems functioning properly and disposing of boating
wastes appropriately. |
