State water panel to vote on $2 million for monitoring beaches
Money could replace funds cut by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and ensure that coastal counties continue testing for bacteria in the ocean.
After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed the $1 million spent each year on ocean water testing, county health officials scrambled to piece together new plans to protect beachgoers from harmful bacteria.
The cut devastated some of the water quality monitoring programs in 17 counties along California's coast and the San Francisco Bay, forcing them to find alternative funds or quit monitoring the surf.
But a temporary infusion of cash from the state water agency could restore seawater sampling, at least for the time being.
At the governor's request, the State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to vote today on whether to distribute about $2 million to coastal counties over the next two fiscal years to keep the water quality program alive.
The $984,000 earmarked to help these counties pay for regular beach monitoring in the busy season between April and October was cut in a line-item veto by Schwarzenegger last month. Local environmental health officials say the program, signed into law in 1997, has helped identify sources of fecal contamination, reduced dangerous bacteria levels and kept the public informed on when to stay out of the water because of unhealthy bacteria levels.
"The public really, really likes this program," said Larry Honeybourne, program manager with the environmental division of the Orange County Health Care Agency. Orange County receives about $208,000 a year from the state for water quality monitoring.
San Diego County was one of the hardest hit by the veto, losing $302,000, which wiped out its dry season water quality program. Without the state funding, the program shut down for the final weeks of October, ending warnings about polluted beaches and daily e-mail and podcast water quality updates.
Coastal officials "were caught by surprise that the governor blue-penciled it out," said San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Cox. Cox wrote letters and encouraged local officials to press for restoration of the program, which keeps tabs on 55 San Diego County shoreline locations during the summer months.
"We have an obligation to our own residents and to the people who come to San Diego to guarantee that our beaches are safe to use," said Cox, who plans to testify before the state water board today.
Analysis of water samples collected from 86 locations in Los Angeles County can continue year-round without state grants, said Eric Edwards, chief environmental health specialist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's water quality program.
