A clear sign of common sense

The news last week that the county’s system for posting warnings

about contaminated water was both striking and rather expected.

It was striking because of the ramifications of the reports on

Orange County water quality, written in part by a UC Irvine

professor.

The bottom-line is that the posting of warnings appears to be

seriously flawed, largely from the lag time between when water is

tested and when warnings are posted. In Huntington Beach, the beach

posting error rate approaches 41%, UCI professor Stanley Grant said.

The studies also found that treatment systems typically fail

because about 99% of pollutants stream into the ocean and harbor

during a few heavy rains. All that means that often when swimmers and

surfers are in the water, there could be unknown, high levels of

contaminants floating around them, a worrisome conclusion. Seemingly

less troubling, except for every surfer who has stayed out of the

water while perfect breaks peeled toward the sand, is that when

warnings are raised, there likely is no longer an unhealthy level of

pollutants.

The findings were not surprising, however, judged through the most

basic common sense. After rain has been pouring down, would anyone

really dive into the water and feel secure just because there’s no

warning sign?

Would a five-minute drizzle in any way seem to pack the same

polluting punch? Of course not.

And that common sense is the true key to people protecting

themselves from harm. No one should have to rely on county officials

to say when it’s OK to go into the water. Are guidelines helpful?

Certainly. But they should never replace one’s own sense of when the

water seems clean and when it’s obviously dirty.

After all, did anyone really need university studies to tell them

that the Santa Ana River and Talbert Marsh are main sources of the

problem?