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There
are three agencies within Orange County that provide
monitoring information to Heal the Bay's Beach
Report Card. The South Orange County Wastewater
Authority (the entity that resulted when the Aliso Water
Management Agency [AWMA] and the South East
Regional Reclamation Authority [SERRA] were combined)
monitored 33 locations on a weekly basis. The
Orange County Environmental Health Division monitored
95 locations on a weekly basis, of which approximately
55 are covered in the Beach Report Card. The
County Sanitation Districts of Orange County monitored
17 locations twice a week. Samples were collected
throughout the year, usually near flowing storm drains,
creeks or rivers. For additional water quality information visit the Orange
County
Environmental Health Division website.
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| Seal
Beach at 14th Street. Photo: Heal the Bay |
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Overall,
dry weather water quality at most beaches in Orange County was very good. Of
the 104 water quality monitoring locations covered by the Beach Report Card,
84 (81%) received good-to-excellent water quality marks (see Table 27 and Table
28). Orange County's stretches of beaches with excellent water quality were Seal
Beach at 14th Street to Huntington City Beach at Beach Blvd; Newport Beach at
Orange Street to Balboa Beach at the Wedge; Corona Beach to Three Arch Bay; and
San Clemente at Avenida Pico to San Clemente Beach at Las Palmeras.
There
were 20 locations that received fair-to-poor dry
weather water quality grades in Orange
County. For the fourth year in a row, 16 of the 20 locations were in three
beach areas. The 1/2 mile stretch of beach with the
worst water quality in California
was a stretch of beach from Doheny State Beach-North Beach to 2,000 feet
from SERRA's south outfall. Of the 6 stations monitored
in this stretch of beach during
dry weather, 5 received a grade of D or F. Another problem area was the pocket
beach in
Dana Point Harbor called Baby Beach. For the fifth year in a row, a majority
of the monitoring stations (three of the four) received
failing
grades. Newport Bay also had numerous
poor water quality beaches. Monitoring stations
at Onyx Avenue (D), 43rd Street (F),
38th Street (C), 10th Street (F), and
Harbor Patrol Beach (C) showed fair-topoor
water quality.
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| Doheny
Beach. Photo: Heal the Bay |
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| Baby
Beach, Dana Point Harbor. Photo: Heal the Bay |
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Orange
County's poor wet weather water quality demonstrated
the largest change from dry weather water quality in
the state. Ten of the 104 beaches received F grades for
dry weather, while 55 (53%) received an F for wet weather.
Although better than last year's spike in poor wet weather
water quality, this 53% represents a return to the previous
3 year average.
Tables
29 and 30 show a brief comparison between the four-year
average and this year's dry and
wet weather water quality grade percentages for Orange
County beaches. This was an average year for water quality
at Orange County beaches during dry weather. While Orange
County's wet weather failing grades percentage (53%)
this year was much lower than last year's 84%, this appears
to be due to differences in overall rainfall and the
number of intense storms. This year's Orange County wet
weather grade percentages are almost identical to the
1999-2002 averages..
Clean
Beach Initiative Summary
Orange County received funding for eight CBI projects,
at a total of approximately $4 million, to reduce bacterial
pollution at local beaches. The City of Dana Point
has diverted the Alipaz Street
and Del Obispo Street storm drains away from San Juan Creek to the sewage system.
Perhaps this will result in improvements in Doheny
Beach water quality during the summer of 2004. The
City of
Newport Beach is proposing to construct a diversion at Carnation Avenue, as well
as construct a wetland/detention basin upstream of
the Arches interchange in the location of the Old Newport
Blvd storm drain. Construction is expected in the winter/spring of 2004/2005,
with completion in
early spring 2005, with monitoring to take place over the 2005 AB411 season.
Orange County implemented a diversion on the Greenville
Banning tributary feeding the Santa Ana River. This
may have a beneficial impact on Huntington Beach. In addition, the County of
Orange has implemented
dry weather diversions (or a package treatment facility) at Poche Creek, Huntington
Beach, and Dana Point Harbor (Baby Beach). In addition to constructing a number
of diversions at Baby Beach, the County has completed
a tidal circulation study and implemented a number
of
best management practices to deter roosting birds from locating in the area.
Sewage
Spill Summary
Orange County beaches had a significant reduction
in the number of sewage spills this year compared to
previous
years. However, there was a slight increase in the total volume
spilled for all the sewage spills combined. There were
approximately 25 sewage spills that led to beach closures in
Orange County, which is eight less than in '02-'03 and 26
less than '01-'02. The total volume discharged was 33,203 gallons, which was
a 15% increase in volume from 2002-
2003. Last year's total sewage spilled that led to beach closures (28,855 gallons)
was nearly matched this year by one
major sewage spill (> 10,000 gallons) that discharged 27,250 gallons to Dana
Strands Beach in Dana Point. This single event accounted for 82% of the known
volume of sewage spilled last year. There were four additional sewage spills
with unknown volumes that led to beach closures.
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