Study reveals pollution trouble spots

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Santa Ana Delhi Channel appears to be one of the

city’s most serious pollution trouble spots, according to early results

of a study reviewed by city officials Tuesday.

The report, prepared by a multi-agency group called the Southern

California Coastal Water Research Project, took a look at nine spots

around Newport Beach that are routinely posted with warnings about high

bacteria levels.

And the results, said Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff, are interesting.

“The area of most concern today turns out to be the Santa Ana Delhi

Channel,� Kiff said. “Five of the six tests [performed there during the

last three weeks] were positive for a human enterovirus.�

The study, a state-funded, $175,000 project, has been searching

specifically for human enteroviruses, which are viruses that are carried

by humans and that can make people sick.

In addition to the trouble spots at the channel, Kiff said the Back

Bay drain near the Newport Dunes resort also tested positive on one

occasion for a human enterovirus.

Study designers have stressed that negative results do not guarantee

that an area is safe for swimming.

“It’s not [necessarily] that those areas do not have a problem,� said

Rachel Noble, a researcher for the project. “It’s that we didn’t find

it.�

The effort to track down the origins of contamination in local waters

is part of the city’s effort to address the problem of urban runoff.

Because runoff may come from a variety of sources -- from animal

droppings to leaky garbage bins to over-fertilized lawns -- it presents a

complex challenge to the pollution-fighters who hope to combat it.

Where a sewage spill can often be fixed with a simple repair to a

broken line, the exact sources of runoff can be difficult to determine.

Testing a body of water for bacteria can show whether the water violates

state standards for bacteria, but such tests don’t indicate what sort of

pollution is causing the problem.

High scores on a bacteria test don’t necessarily mean that the water

is unsafe, Kiff noted.

“Maybe it’s just from Joe fertilizing his lawn,� he said. “It’s not

bad to swim in something that doesn’t make you sick.�

The effort to pinpoint contamination sources initially focused on

matching DNA samples from local waters against a library of DNA samples

from human sources. If a positive match was made, the theory went,

researchers would know that human sewage was contaminating the water.

But city and county officials said in May that this study design was

too statistically loose to provide useful data. They shifted their

approach instead to the current model.

Kiff said the new design already seems to be providing significant

information.

“Now we can go up in the Santa Ana Delhi Channel and try to find out

what’s happening,� he said. “Maybe there’s a leaky sewer, maybe there’s

an illegal connection where someone actually has a sewer hooked up to a

storm drain. Maybe there are homeless or transients who don’t have the

sanitary conditions they need.�

TESTED TROUBLE SPOTS

o7 Here are some of the areas tested as part of a recent study

conducted by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project:f7

* 43rd Street (Bay side)

* The Arches Interchange* Bayshore Beach

* Santa Ana Delhi Channel (two locations)

* San Diego Creek (two locations)* Big Canyon Wash

* Back Bay drain near Newport Dunes