Consultants to Try Cleaning Up Most Polluted Beach
OXNARD — Help may be on the way for a once-popular children’s beach that has been closed for nearly a year because of disease-causing pollution swirling in the water.
Shallow, calm waters have traditionally made Channel Islands Harbor Beach Park, better known as “Kiddie Beach,” a favored spot for families with small children.
But this summer, visitors have stayed away, thanks to the no-swimming signs that have been in place since September. The pollution has become so persistent that Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay recently declared Kiddie Beach the most polluted of 250 beaches between San Luis Obispo County and San Diego County.
Now, officials in Ventura County are poised to hire experts they hope will identify the source of the pollution and devise cleanup remedies to put the beach back into use.
On Tuesday, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a contract calling for $118,000 in new water-quality studies at the beach. Later this month, the Oxnard City Council is expected to contribute 42% of that amount.
The proposal calls for hiring a Thousand Oaks environmental consultant to organize a task force, hold public meetings and work with scientists to solve the problem.
Work probably will begin by the end of this month, and the first public meeting on the matter is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 9.
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