Beach
treatment levels upped
By Kristen Force
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
Orange County Sanitation District has recently
approved a plan to increase the treatment
levels of waste water before it is deposited
into the ocean, resulting from beach closures
and water pollution studies.
Primary treatment was not adequate to remove
the pollutants from the water, so new facilities
are being constructed to bring all standards
up to the federal level, OCSD officials
said.
“There had been some questions about whether
or not our treated waste water was coming
back to shore,” Sonja Wasgren, public information
coordinator said.
The OCSD Web site reports that pollution
level testing began in 1999 upon the discovery
of high bacteria counts in the ocean, close
to shore. The results of those tests concluded
that the higher-than-normal bacteria were
most likely a result of urban runoff draining
from the Santa Ana River.
In February, the general manager of the
OCSD announced plans to begin immediate
design and construction of disinfection
facilities.
All treated wastewater will be disinfected
by chlorination followed by dechlorination
until the facilities are completed, Wasgren
said. Plans call for a long-term solution
to use disinfection by ultraviolet light,
reverse osmosis or other technology within
the next seven years.
Preliminary testing showed that sewage levels
and other causes, including runoff and pollution
directly from the beach, affected the bacteria
levels in the surf zone.
“There’s really no smoking gun about what
the cause is,” Wasgren said.
In July, the OCSD Board of Directors voted
13-12 to move to a higher level of treatment.
The estimated cost for the upgrade is $400
million totaling $271 million more than
choosing to continue current operations,
Wasgren said.
The cost to Orange County taxpayers will
be 5 cents a day or $75 a year for a family
of four, said Jan Vandersloot, a supporter
of the higher standards, in a letter to
the OCSD.
The design and construction of the new facilities
will take an estimated 11 years to complete.
The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control
Board, based on the finding that most beach
water closures in Orange County are due
to sanitary spill overflows, has introduced
new requirements for sewering agencies to
reduce overflows, the Web site said.
No studies have been completed to show the
effectiveness of the new guidelines.
The Water Resources Control Board identified
urban runoff as the leading cause of contamination
in the ocean water in Long Beach and has
created a proposal for the city to implement.
The Long Beach Water Department Web site
outlines the new standards and plans for
water treatment. Each city must meet specific
criteria to receive funding from the Clean
Beaches Initiative Grant.
The requirements include: demonstrating
the capability of contributing to long-term
water quality for a period of 20 years addressing
the causes of degradation rather than the
symptoms and consistency with water quality
and resource protection plans.
Long Beach lifeguard Eduardo Osorio said
the beaches in the area are not as bad as
many people think.
“It’s OK to swim here,” Osorio said. “The
health department checks the water every
week.”
Many swimmers avoid the waters in Long Beach
because of the brown color, but Osorio said
pollution is not the cause, he said.
“Phytoplankton makes the water brown,” he
said. “When the water temperature changes,
it makes the organisms grow. It looks gross,
but it is fine.”
Osorio said he believes that the cause of
the pollution is trash from the channels
leading into the ocean, not sewage.
“There’s so much trash coming from areas
far from the beach,” Osorio said. “When
it rains, you’ll see all that trash on the
beach.”
As long as the city continually monitors
the levels of bacteria in the water, the
local beaches remain a safe place to swim,
Osorio said.
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