Press Article

San Diego Union-Tribune
Oct 6, 1999

New requirements for coast water testing are, under fire, backers say

By Terry Rodgers
STAFF WRITER 

     A newly implemented law requirIng coastal beaches statewide to be tested for contamination is working well and shouldn't be tampered with, supporters of the legislation said at a news conference yesterday.

     "Shooting the messenger ... isn't going to make the problem go away," said Donna Frye, a longtime San Diego clean-water activist.

     Frye exposed a loophole in state law that made water-quality testing optional for county health officials.

     The result was Assembly Bill 411, authored by Assemblyman Howard Wayne, D-San Diego, which requires weekly testing at the state's most heavily used beaches during spring, summer and fall (April 1 to Oct. 31).

     Speaking at La Jolla Shores beach, where urban runoff periodically pollutes the ocean through a storm drain, Frye said she was alarmed over recent statements by Republican Assembly leader Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach.

     After beaches in his district were closed this summer as a result of the mandatory testing, Baugh criticized, the law as "unclear" and questioned whether the pollution standards were based on sound science.

     In a telephone interview, Baugh said his primary concern is that the law doesn't clearly define how a beach can be reopened once it has been posted as contaminated.

     Baugh, who voted for AB 411, indicated he was concerned that the law gives public health officials considerable discretionary powers to keep beaches closed.

     It's also unclear, he said, what the health risk is to the public from water that contains small amounts of bacteria.

     Historically, health officials sampled coastal waters for total bacteria and fecal bacteria, microorganisms that may or may not make humans sick but together are used as indicators that pollution may be present. Under the new law, health officials also test for enterococci, different bacteria that survive longer than fecal bacteria and are easier to detect.

     Business owners in Huntington Beach complained that the beach closures dragged on even after the tests showed the water quality had improved, Baugh said.

     "My suspicion was that the beach was closed because (county health officials) couldn't find the source of the pollution, not because the water was dangerous," he said.

     To further publicize his concerns, Baugh has scheduled an informal hearing at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Huntington Beach City Hall.

     Frye said she suspects Baugh is angling to propose amendments that would weaken the law.

     "I don't think (Baugh) should be playing politics with the public's health," Frye said in an interview. "We're using the best science we have -- it's the most rapid contamination detection we have. It's the pollution that's the problem, not the health officials doing the testing."

     Assemblyman Wayne said he, too, suspects that Baugh is trying to appease business owners feeling the pinch because tourists are turned away by the contamination signs.

     "He's essentially trying to do local damage control," said Wayne.

     Although AB 411 was signed into law in 1997 by Gov. Pete Wilson, testing didn't begin until this July. It took state bureaucrats nearly two years to agree on the procedures spelling out how health officials would conduct the tests.

     The impact of mandatory testing was dramatic at certain locations, especially at Huntington Beach, where significant bacterial levels were detected at beaches no one suspected were polluted.