Ocean Surf 37

WHAT'S IN THE SOUP? HOW SAFE IS IT TO SURF THE SOUTH BAY





Excuse me, what's in the Soup?
How safe is it to surf the South Bay?


El Porto is located in an extremely industrial looking area and most people naturally assume it to be a highly polluted beach.The Hyperion plant is just down the road, the Cheveron Refinery and a host of harmful looking pipes and smokestacks are only a stones throw away and there is a normally submerged structure called the "shit pipe" a scant 1/2 mile away. I myself conjured up images of feces and oil and god knows what being pumped into the line-up every day. In order to put these nightmarish images to rest I sent Dan Cobbley down to Heal the Bay to ask James Alamillo (in charge of the Heal the Bay Report Card) a few questions. Here's what he found out.
Where does most of the harmful run off at El Porto come from? Most of the pollution to our nearshore waters comes from urban (nuisance) runoff. This runoff carries anything and everything (oil/grease, trash, pesticides, food and fecal waste, and yard waste) off the streets, parking lots, drive ways, restaurants, yards, and rooftops.Are there any certain dangerous chemicals or bacteria found in the water at Porto all the time? There are chemicals and bacteria found in the water most of the time, however, usually in trace amounts that are not dangerous or harmful with regards to acute illness (one-time exposure). With regards to chemical/toxic pollution, the chronic effects are not fully known, that is how frequently does one need to go swimming in the ocean (exposure) relative to the amount of a substance being in the water. Heal the Bay and the County of Los Angeles recommend surfers and swimmers not to swim within a 100 yards of a flowing storm drain. This applies primarily to those areas at 27th, 40th, and the Pier. The current water quality monitoring program looks at three indicator bacteria to determine the health of shoreline water quality. Those 3 indicators are: total coliform, fecal coliform and enterococcus. These are not the "critters" that are likely to make you sick, however, significant numbers of these organisms indicate the possible presents of harmful pathogens (critters that will make you sick.
How much of a difference number wise does the rain change the pollution?
By an order of magnitude. For example, during dry weather one might typically see enterococcus levels around 10. During a rainstorm (wet weather) this number can jump up to 100 or more.

What adverse effects do these have on the human body?
Adverse health effects associated with microbiological pollution can include (but not limited to) stomach flu, ear infection, sinus infections, or full body skin rash.

How long does it really take before this stuff is cleared out of the water? The usual recommended time to stay out of the water is 72 hours (3 days) after a sewage spill or rainstorm event has ended.

Does the bacterial rate in the water really lessen after the first major rain. As to say, are we more likely to catch some horrible bug during the first rain as opposed to the second, third, forth, etc.? This really depends on the amount of time that has passed between rainstorms. Since we live in a highly urbanized setting, it does not take very long for pollutants to build up in the system.

Is there any one local spot where the bacteria levels are consistently rated higher? Dry weather conditions in Los Angeles County, Surfrider Beach and Will Rogers’ State Beach at Santa Monica Canyon are typically the two ocean beaches that continually have high bacteria counts. As for enclosed bays, Mothers’ Beach, Avalon Bay, and Cabrillo Beach (harborside) all tend to have high bacteria levels. Wet Weather conditions tend to affect all beaches in the Santa Monica Bay.