Five-year-old study raises suspicions

Paul Clinton

A ruling by the Orange County Grand Jury has brought to light a

previously unreleased study that provides fresh answers about the

bacterial contamination of the city’s ocean water.

The grand jury chided the Orange County Sanitation District’s decision

to withhold the study, saying district officials should have “disclosed

the existence of all publicly funded studies.”

As the basis for its claims, the grand jury cited “The 20 Meter

Study,” a 1996 report paid for by the district from funds derived mostly

by rates passed on to users.

The district did publish raw numbers from a round of test data taken

during the fall of 1996 and summer of 1997, but did not provide any

summary or analysis of it.

A written analysis of the report was not released until last month,

more than five years after the initial testing.

“It calls into question their credibility,” Mayor Debbie Cook said.

“I’ve always been troubled by the fact that they have refused to do dive

studies on the plume.”

In the 20 Meter Study, sanitation district officials studied the

location of the plume of partially treated waste water pumped off shore

each day.

District officials said they would take the grand jury’s findings to

heart.

“We have read the report and agree with all the recommendations

provided by the grand jury,” General Manager Blake Anderson said. “We

thank the grand jury for acknowledging that ‘OCSD recognizes the benefit

of communicating with the public’ . . . and we will use the

recommendations to improve the way we disseminate research studies to the

community.”

The study shows that the plume, thought to have encroached no closer

than three miles from the shoreline, was traveling along the ocean floor

toward the beach.

They found the contamination was as close as 1.5 miles out to sea and

just 20 meters below the surface. City leaders and environmentalists have

long suspected that the waste water plume was causing contamination in

the surf zone.

Environmental activist Jack Skinner, who has pushed for the release of

the report, said the data could have led to a greater testing effort

after a summer-long beach closure in Huntington Beach in 1999.

“If we had known the contamination had come that close to shore, then

we would have pressed for more monitoring,” Skinner said. “I’m very much

in favor of the grand jury’s recommendations.”

Along with the seven criticisms of the sanitation district, the grand

jury also laid out seven remedies. Those include the publishing of all

raw data, posting study topics on the district’s Web site and releasing

all reports to the public in a timely manner.

Under the terms of a federal sewage waiver, the district releases

240-million gallons of partially treated waste per day from a pipe on the

ocean floor.

The waiver allows the district to dump sewage not treated to the

standards set out by the Clean Water Act of 1972.

The waiver was first granted in 1985 and renewed in 1998, shortly

after the sanitation district successfully loosened standards for how

much of the ocean it needed to protect.

Jan Vandersloot, a Huntington Beach dentist who has long lobbied

against the waiver, said the 20 Meter Study provides evidence that could

have made it tougher for the sanitation district to secure a renewal.

“Because the study was not released, they got their permit,”

Vandersloot said. “They were allowed to continue doing what they are

doing.”

A host of Orange County cities, including Huntington Beach, Newport

Beach and Seal Beach, are pressing for an end to the waiver, which will

expire in 2003. The district is applying to the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency for a renewal.

District spokeswoman Lisa Murphy said the 1996-97 testing data was

shared with the same regulators who granted the extension in 1998.

“That information was not a secret to regulators,” Murphy said. “It

was discussed at a meeting.”

The district is required to protect the water in a recreational zone

leading three miles out under the terms of the waiver.

On May 15, the sanitation district’s board is scheduled to receive a

battery of results from tests that were performed last summer.

The district is expected to consider whether to step up treatment of

the waste water from a basic, or primary, treatment to a more thorough,

or secondary, treatment.

At a Wednesday evening board meeting, district staff members released

the results of a phone survey they said showed “strong support” for the

status quo. Of the 650 north and south county residents polled, 93%

blanched when told rates could double to pay for the increased treatment.

The average household pays $108 per year.

Cook, who sits on the sanitation district’s 25-member board, said she

thought the survey was biased.

“It’s one of the most biased polls I’ve ever seen in my life,” Cook

said. “It’s a ‘push poll.’ They push people toward a certain answer.”

Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway, also a board member, had requested a

copy of the study during a public meeting earlier this year. He said the

grand jury’s findings were disconcerting.

“It’s clear the district was not forthcoming with this information,”

Ridgeway said. “I was uncomfortable with the answers when I was

questioning the staff about the 20-meter report.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He covers City

Hall and education. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail ato7 [email protected] .